Stranded with You
by Shantel Lukasik
Summary: Bianca and Eric hadn't really talked until Bianca's Uncle Ben took her and his girlfriend's son Eric with him on a trip to Costa Rica, but after being stranded on Isla Sorna they'll have to learn to help each other survive the dinosaur island. EricxOC
1. Bianca

Most people would find it strange to read a story coming from two fourteen year olds, yet we have lived through more than what most fourteen year olds have lived through. I had a feeling the trip my Uncle Ben had invited me on was going to go badly from the moment he mentioned the name "Eric Kirby". No, I never hated Eric or anything like that, but I definitely was not his biggest fan. I was first informed of this trip as I sat in my backyard reading Dr. Alan Grant's newest book. I was an avid fan of Dr. Grant. It was unusual for a girl like **me** to be interested in dinosaurs, but I found him amazing. Especially since he had lived through John Hammond's amusement park for cloned dinosaurs on a trip that when horribly awry. The dinosaurs breaking free had made it so that multiple islands had been dominated by these less than harmless creatures. I was both intrigued and frightened by the thought of seeing these dinosaurs with my own eyes, but I figured the farther away the better. As I was saying, I was reading in my backyard when my mother and Uncle Ben came trotting up to the hammock I was sitting in. My mom apparently had been preparing for another date. Her sandy blonde hair was partially up while the other half fell in waves down her back. She'd been battling with herself for over an hour about whether she should where the pink sweater or the white sweater with her white sundress. She had apparently chosen the pink as it was tossed over her shoulder. Her navy blue eyes, the same as mine, were glinting with excitement. Uncle Ben had a broad smile on his face as he and my mother stopped before me. The two siblings looked almost nothing alike as Uncle Ben had short black hair and was quite a few feet taller than my mother. I had actually gotten light brown hair because my father had had dark brown hair and my mother's side had dominantly light hair. Uncle Ben was an exception. I closed my book and looked up at the two of them.

"Should I be afraid that my summer vacation is going to be ruined?" I asked curiously.

The two smiled at me and Uncle Ben ruffled my hair, not that I was much bothered by this action as I was used to it and there weren't any boys around to impress.

"What would you say to going on vacation with me…to Costa Rica?"

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Every year since my father had died; they had decided that I needed a father figure in my life so Uncle Ben took up the mantle. For the past five years, Uncle Ben and I had been going on vacation together every summer. Typically it was somewhere in the United States and not somewhere that we needed to take a plane to get to. This trip sounded more extravagant than usual. I smirked and narrowed my eyes at my Uncle.

"What's the catch?"

Uncle Ben's smile faltered, letting me know I had hit the nail right on the head.

"I…am going to be taking my girlfriend's son with us."

"I see."

Uncle Ben sat down next to me and put an arm around my shoulders.

"Hey, it'll be fun. He's your age _and_ goes to your school."

I felt the gears of my brain grind to an instant halt. Oh no…not a boy from my class. I had been super excited for this year to be over and to move on to high school where I wouldn't need to see most of the guys in my class again. They were immature and had no appreciation for people who tried to leave them well enough alone. Especially not if that person was a girl. **Especially** if that girl was me. Bianca Mallon, the favorite person for the boys to pick on all throughout eighth grade. I tried not to show my extreme disappointment on my face as I knew I would go no matter who the boy was. My mom had been banking on me going with Uncle Ben on vacation. She'd made plans with a few guys who she liked and was willing to date and who was I to interrupt that? She'd worked so hard as a single mom to raise me so far, so I felt she deserved some break time.

"He does? What's his name?"

I held my breath as Uncle Ben smiled, knowing I would go from the tone of my voice.

"Eric Kirby. Know him?"

I sighed, only semi-relieved. He wasn't the worst guy. I didn't know him extremely well. He was studious in ways, but he hung out with the creepy jerks and laughed from behind their backs as they taunted me. By himself…I wasn't really sure what to expect. I smiled at my Uncle and gave him a hug.

"Okay, Uncle Ben. When will we be leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning. I'll pick you up before I get Eric, alright?"

I nodded.

This would prove to be interesting at the least.

Author's Note: I finally got up the nerve to write a fanfic about Eric from Jurassic Park 3! Yay! I love Trevor Morgan (feh, what's 5 years?), he's adorable and I may possibly begin writing a fanfic about Nathan Martin from The Patriot just because he plays that character (also one for Thomas Martin played by Gregory Smith). Anyway, this story will be told in both Bianca's POV and Eric's so, please enjoy.


	2. Eric

"Mom! Ben's here!"

I, for one, had been super excited upon hearing that Ben was taking me to Costa Rica. I'm not saying Bianca wasn't, because I doubt she would have come if she wasn't completely excited. However, I didn't expect the niece Ben had mentioned was coming to be someone from my own school. That I learned when Ben and Bianca pulled up into my mother's driveway and stepped out of the car. My initial reaction? Shock, surprise, guilt. I instantly wondered if Bianca knew it was me who was going on the trip. By the look on her face, I figured she did. She examined the house with slight distaste, as if my presence inside was the house's fault. I couldn't blame her. My friends had been pretty annoying when it came to Bianca Mallon. She was quiet, soft-spoken, intelligent, and, the worst nightmare for girls of a certain age, attractive. I know that sounds strange, but just trust me. It grabs attention and when you're in middle school, I can admit that boys are somewhat immature and we can be jerks. Sadly, Bianca had been the silent target for male attention. And they had **really** wanted her attention. I'd stood back and laughed at their jokes, but I never was particularly mean to her. But I knew just by being in one place at a specific time made me just as bad as my friends. She didn't even have to try for their attention. For example, as she stood in the driveway staring toward the house with her arms folded across her chest, her light brown hair fell to her shoulders in a small wave. Her eyes were a blue that was not natural for most blue-eyed individuals. Navy blue gave her this intelligent look and sometimes it seemed as if she could look right through you and see your soul. It could make a guy shiver if she looked you straight in the eye. She was petite, completely slim and could wear just about anything and make it look amazing. She wore a light blue t-shirt that read "Don't Flatter Me" and jean short shorts that accentuated her legs nicely. If I had called my friends, they would have been so jealous that I would never have heard the end of it. Did I like her? No. Could I like her? Maybe. Would I be happy if she were interested in me? Heck yes.

I watched through the window as she slowly followed Ben up the driveway. Behind me, my mom patted down her short blonde hair and straightened out her blue button-down shirt. When the doorbell rang, I dashed to the entrance of the living room as my mom opened the door beaming.

"Hi, Ben," she said, giving him a huge hug and a kiss.

I'd felt weird when my mom had brought Ben home to meet me as her new boyfriend, but if he made her happy that was her business. She smiled a lot more now that she wasn't fighting with my dad all the time.

"Hey, Amanda, this is my niece Bianca," he smiled, stepping to the side and putting a hand on Bianca's shoulder.

Bianca smiled shyly at my mom as they shook hands.

"So you're Susan's daughter? I hear that you know my son Eric."

They all looked at me and I waved at her with a quick smile. She gave me a half smile before looking down at the ground. It annoyed me slightly that my mother had known Bianca was Ben's niece before I did, but it was too late to get upset by this. My mom ushered them into the house and shut the door.

"Almost ready, Sport?" Ben asked me.

"Yeah."

I picked up my backpack full of stuff and my duffel bag. Ben pulled his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Bianca.

"Help him put his stuff in the car, Bumble Bee? I want to talk to Amanda for a moment."

Bianca apparently knew what he meant by that because her eye twitched before she turned and walked back out the front door. I followed behind her with my stuff. She pulled open the trunk of Ben's jeep and waited as I tossed my things in. I closed it after I was done and we both saw that the two inside were still talking intensely. I looked over at Bianca, who was looking everywhere but at me.

"Funny how things work out, huh? I didn't know Ben was your uncle," I said, trying to start a conversation.

Bianca's face went a little pink.

"Yeah…funny."

I rubbed my nose for something to do as she was obviously not trying to keep up a conversation with me.

"Uhhm…I see you cut your hair. It looks nice."

"I had to. Your friend Mike put gum in my hair."

Way to go, Mike, you suck **so much** for that. I gave an airy laugh that sounded a little creepy. Bianca glanced at me and inched away a few steps. It looked as if Ben and my mom were finished talking as they kissed and Ben started walking down the stairs.

"Sorry about that?" I said to her.

"Hm."

I didn't know what kind of response that was, but Ben reached us with a big smile on his face and my mom came over and enveloped me in a huge hug.

"I'll miss you, Eric," she said, giving me a huge kiss on the cheek.

My face lit up crimson as both Ben and Bianca were watching.

"Mom, stop! I'll only be gone for a little while."

"Be good. Listen to Ben and be nice to Bianca. Be careful, too!"

I wriggled out of her arms and laughed. She smiled and with a quick kiss on my head she watched as we all got in the car. Bianca slid into the backseat, assuming I was going to sit in the front with Ben. After a split moment of indecision, I opened the backdoor and got in, much to Bianca's apparent chagrin. Ben apparently thought nothing of us both sitting in the back as he started the car and began backing out. I waved to my mom as I saw tears going down her cheeks. I didn't know if she was crying because she was happy that I was getting along with her boyfriend or if she was sad because she was going to miss me. If we both had known that Ben was going to die and that Bianca and I would be stuck on Isla Sorna for eight weeks and that a group of people, my parents and Dr. Alan Grant included, were going to have to come and find us, I have no doubt in my mind that she would have been crying about that.


	3. Costa Rica: Bianca

The ride to the airport had been extremely uncomfortable for me and Eric, but Uncle Ben didn't really notice. He would talk and talk and talk about anything and everything he could. A few times Eric had tried to speak with me but I just responded with simple statements that lead to nowhere. I hadn't really ever talked to Eric but he seemed nice enough. He was definitely apologetic enough, even though he hadn't ever teased me himself. I had felt a little better when he'd apologized about his friend putting gum in my hair, but I wasn't about to show him that. At the airport, we were rushed through to the plane by my Uncle. I was irritated by the airline tickets my Uncle had received which placed him across the aisle from my seat beside Eric. He'd been nice enough to give me the window seat and sit next to the aisle himself. Since he'd offered, I'd accepted. As the plane took off, it took Uncle Ben almost no time at all to nod off. Eric just kept looking around and checking things out while I pulled Dr. Grant's book out of my backpack. I was about to begin reading it when Eric distracted me.

"Hey, you read his books too? I like his work, but…the ones from before he ran into actual dinosaurs were better in my opinion."

I blinked at him. Eric Kirby had never struck me as the type of guy, who would be into the study of dinosaurs, but then again…I was a girl…and I was a fan.

"You've read all of them?" I asked, quietly.

I felt like I always sounded like a mouse when I talked to guys without knowing them. I assumed that was why guys teased me so much. I made my own self tiny and insignificant. Eric seemed to glow with some sort of strange triumph by causing me to ask him a question for a change.

"Yeah, every one."

"Oh."

And the glow instantly dimmed. I opened my book to where I had left off and placed the bookmark on my lap. Eric watched me a moment longer before pulling out a book of his own and started reading it. I couldn't help but glance over at him every so often. Eric was taller than me, by maybe about two inches. He was well on his way to being a broad shouldered youth. Though his hair fell into his face, his bangs covering his eyes from my vision, I could see that he still had some of the baby fat to lose from his face. We'd been on the plan about an hour when I finished my book. With a sense of accomplishment, I store the book and my bookmark away in my backpack. I was about to lie back and close my eyes when I noticed Eric watching me.

"What?" I asked, trying to hide my face with my hair.

The last thing I wanted was to be teased about something being on my face. Eric gaped at me for a moment, seeming to search for the words to what he'd been thinking.

"Well, I…I was just wondering if…"

My forehead furrowed and I dared to look at him fully.

"What?" I asked, looking him right in the eye.

He seemed to deflate a little in his seat, his book falling off to his right side.

"Do you hate me?" he asked.

It was my turn to gape at him like a fish.

"Uh, no. No, I don't."

"Ah, uhm, okay."

He made to go back to his book but I put a hand on his arm. He looked back and stared at my hand like it was going to eat him. I retracted my hand self-consciously and placed it on my lap.

"Why did you think I hate you?"

"I know the guys I hang out with aren't extremely nice to you. I just…wanted to know if you grouped me in with them. I'd completely understand if you did, but honestly I am sorry if they…or I hurt your feelings at any point. It wasn't…our intention?"

I stared at him. I was slightly dumbfounded that he looked completely serious. Not only that but I felt like his eyes were pleading with me to not dislike him. I felt slightly ashamed for treating him so coldly as I looked down at my lap.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

He responded so eagerly I almost smiled.

"Why did you…they…why did **they** tease me? I didn't do anything to them, did I?"

Eric looked alarmed by my statement. His face reddened slightly.

"No! No…they're just…stupid guys. They just…don't know how to act around girls."

That seemed a little odd to me, that guys would just tease you because they didn't know how to act, but guys made no sense so it could be possible. I gave Eric a small smile.

"Okay."

Eric smiled back at me and seemed rather relieved. For the rest of the plane ride I went to sleep. I woke up only when the lady on the intercom started talking about landing.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are preparing to land. Please stay in your seats until the plane is safely landed. Thank you for flying with us."

I rubbed my eyes before yelping as Eric had leaned over me to pull open the window to watch us land. He grinned at me sheepishly.

"Sorry…"

The two of us watched as the land got closer and closer until the plane landed and bumped to a stop at a terminal. Uncle Ben was awake and looked excited.

"Ready, guys? You're going to love the hotel we're staying at."

Eric and I waited as Uncle Ben flagged down a taxi outside of the airport. In the car I got squished between a happy Uncle Ben and an apologetic Eric. The ride there was hot and humid and we were all sweating even though the trip wasn't super long. I actually started to get excited when I saw the beach. We finally reached the five star beach front hotel we'd be staying at.

"Uncle Ben, you went way out of your way!" I told him as we got our things from the trunk of the taxi.

He ruffled my hair, this time annoying me a bit, and laughed.

"Don't worry, Bumble Bee. It was worth it."

My stuff was way in the back of the trunk so I had to wait until Uncle Ben and Eric had retrieved their luggage. I easily grabbed my backpack, but I was struggling with my suitcase. I leaned all the way into the trunk, grabbing the handle, but I couldn't easily pull it toward me. At first I thought it was Uncle Ben's hand that grabbed the handle beside mine, but looking over I saw Eric. He didn't look at me, but was focused on the suitcase as the two of us pulled it forward and Eric lifted it out of the trunk.

"I got an extra hand; I'll bring it up for you."

I was about to protest, but he was already walking off with it as the taxi driver closed the trunk. I hesitated for a moment before racing after the two males. Our room was up on the top floor. Uncle Ben had paid for the penthouse suite. There were two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living area. I knew Uncle Ben had money, but I couldn't believe how much he was already spending on this trip.

"You two pick your bedrooms. I'll be sleeping on the couch. And I want to! So don't argue with me."

"Thanks, Ben!"

"Thanks, Uncle Ben!"

We left our stuff in the living room as we scouted out the rooms we wanted. I figured that any place as pretty as this would make for a fun vacation. And it was…at the beginning.


	4. The Beach: Eric

Yeah, the ride to the airport was pretty harsh. Bianca wanted nothing to do with me, at least that was what I gathered from her lack of interest in anything I said. Sitting beside her on the airplane was also somewhat awkward. I'd gotten pretty excited though when I saw that she liked Dr. Alan Grant, too. I almost died when she asked me why the guys at school had teased her. I couldn't outright say to her "Yeah, because they liked you". How mental would I sound? Exactly. So I gave her half the truth and I figured I'd just be as super nice to her as I possibly could. Anyway, after choosing which room we wanted we went with Ben down to the beach. Ben and I ran right into the water, but Bianca stayed back on the beach setting up a towel under a rented umbrella and sat there. I really wanted her to hang out with me, but I didn't think dragging her would be the best way to make that happen. She sat under the blue and white umbrella in a green and blue polka dot bikini just staring at the waves. I noticed Ben was a little concerned as well, as he'd glance back at her every so often just to make sure she was still there.

"Is there a particular reason as to why she is so quiet?" I asked Ben.

He grinned at me as a wave crashed into our legs and I felt the sand shifting to bring us farther into the sea.

"Well, she stopped talking a lot after her father died. That was back when she was nine. He died of cancer. It didn't help that when she reached middle school boys started teasing her. She doesn't really have friends so she doesn't have many people to talk to other than her mom and me."

"I didn't know…"

"She mentioned you were one of the boys who left her alone. I'm sure if you'd known you'd have helped her."

Stab of guilt…but what could I say? Ben grabbed my shoulder and turned me in Bianca's direction.

"How about we get her to come join us, huh?"

"You're on your own. I don't want her mad at me!"

Ben winked at me and ran up the beach to Bianca. They exchanged a few words before Ben swooped down and picked her up. I smiled as I could hear her yelling at him from up the beach. He dashed down to where I was and put her down just as a wave came up. It almost knocked her down in surprise but Ben and I caught her. She glared up at him.

"UNCLE BEN!"

The tips of her hair were now wet, which showed just how far out we were and how tall that wave had been.

"C'mon, Bumble Bee, have some fun."

"But I don't **want** to be in the water. It's nice to just look at it."

She stomped back through the water as best she could and went back to her spot on the beach. She did her best to get the sand off her legs and dry her hair. Ben just smiled and shook his head.

"She likes the mountains better. She'll hike up mountains, but she won't swim through oceans."

After about an hour, I left Ben still in the water. He was looking for sand dollars and seashells to cheer up Bianca. I went to the spot she was in and grabbed a towel out of the bag we'd brought. Bianca glanced at me, but turned back to stare at her uncle and the beach some more. After drying myself off as much as I could, I draped the towel over my shoulders.

"Mind if I sit with you?"

I wondered if she thought I was pushing my luck with the towel she was sitting on not having that much room for two people, but she slid over and let me sit beside her. I accidentally brushed my arm against hers and she retreated to the corner of the towel slightly like a turtle pulling into its shell.

"I get it."

I watched as Ben held up a sand dollar and did a little dance out in the water. From the corner of my eye I could tell that Bianca was looking me in confusion.

"What?"

"You're wary of me."

"Isn't that to be expected?"

"I guess. But you don't really know me and you're already being defensive. You're just afraid you might like me."

That came out more confident that I felt and from Bianca's expression, she got the wrong impression. I turned to her in alarm.

"I mean liking me as a person, not…liking me like…uhm…"

"I get it."

She put her head on her knees and watched me for a moment.

"Do you like Ben?"

I was taken aback slightly by her question.

"Uh, yeah. Ben's pretty cool. He makes my mom happy."

"Would you be okay with him as a stepfather?"

Her face was completely inquisitive as she asked these questions that I had been trying to ignore most of the time.

"I guess? I don't really think of him like that yet…"

"I'd feel weird if my mom got a steady boyfriend. Though, I probably shouldn't be surprised since it's been five years. If the guy tried as hard as Ben is with you…I'd be inclined to like him. Since he seems to really like you a lot. He wouldn't bring you on our annual trip if he didn't. Or maybe…I'm the extra."

I gave her a small smile.

"Do I hear resentment?"

"No. Curiosity. I'm a curious person. I like learning and trying new things."

"Like going into the ocean?"

She glared at me for a second, which freaked me out momentarily. But the look was gone quickly.

"I've tried liking the ocean, but I don't like the feeling of sand and salt stuck to your skin once you come out. You feel covered in it from head to toe and sometimes you get cuts on your heel or feet that you got from the salt and it burns so much that you sometimes can't stand it. That is what I don't like."

Bianca isn't perfect. She's not super social and she's rather blunt. But she's likable. The issue with her was keeping her talking. The more she talked, the more I liked who she was. Ben came running up the beach and stopped in front of us. He gave the sand dollar and some really nice intact seashells to Bianca who just laughed at him. It was a genuine laugh. I'd never seen or heard her laugh before that, but her face lit up nicely.

"So," Ben said, helping us pack up our beach stuff," I have a surprise for you guys tomorrow so get a lot of sleep tonight."

Bianca frowned at her uncle.

"It's not something dangerous is it?"

"Not really. You guys'll love it! C'mon, let's get back to the hotel."


	5. The Island: Bianca

"Parasailing?"

I knew my Uncle Ben could be a little on the dangerous side with some of the things he wanted to do. Eric seemed to be completely excited. I on the other hand had a problem with the idea of parasailing near a restricted island 207 miles off the coast. Oh, and not to mention, the island is infested with dinosaurs that went wild after INGEN failed to control them. That sounded like a great idea.

"Bumble Bee, it will be **fine**," my uncle reassured me.

I turned to Eric who was sitting on the couch eating a Crunch Bar.

"Eric, you seriously think this is a good idea?"

He seemed astonished that I'd actually addressed him. He chewed on his mouthful of chocolate before swallowing and answering.

"It's just a little run around the island."

My shoulders slumped as I fell into a chair. Uncle Ben pumped a fist in the air in triumph and ran to get the camera Amanda had given him and Eric to record the trip on.

"Doesn't it seem a little sketchy that these people will actually take us close to a restricted zone? Even maybe **into** a restricted zone?"

Eric gulped down the last of his candy bar and leaned his elbows on his knees.

"It's all going to be okay, Bianca. Don't you trust Ben?"

I pursed my lips and got up to go back my bag for the trip. Even if it was parasailing and I shouldn't take much, they couldn't stop me from bringing my favorite shoulder bag. In a few hours we were on the boat and Isla Sorna was huge in front of us. Uncle Ben had strapped Eric in front of him and me in front of Eric. I was not pleased by this arrangement in the least. I had been banking on just sitting in the boat and waiting for it all to be over, but Eric had coerced me into it by reminding me about how I said I tried something at least once before deciding whether or not I liked it. I hate to admit it…but the boy is good_. _I closed my eyes as Uncle Ben pulled open the parasail and our feet left the boat. I clung onto the safety jacket that had been placed on me. It wasn't horrible and it was almost thrilling to be so high up in the air. I could hear Eric cheering and Uncle Ben asking questions to make sure we were okay and I knew he was holding the camera up to survey the area. Suddenly the rope got bumpy and I screamed.

"What is that?" I heard Eric ask from behind me.

Looking down, the boat came out of a huge cloud of mist with no one on board and a suspicious splash of red on the back half of the deck making me think it was blood. The canopy of the boat and been ripped to shreds. This is when Eric and I completely lost it and started screaming at the top of our lungs. It didn't help that the boat was heading straight into a group of rocks. Uncle Ben rushed to unhook the rope from us to the boat. He succeeded and steered us straight onto the island trying to reassure us that everything was going to be okay. We wound up landing in a tree. The parasail stuck. I was in tears. I did not want to be here and I had known it was a bad idea from the beginning. But of course…no one listened to me.

"Alright, I'm going to unhook you guys, okay?"

The drop from where we were hanging to the ground wasn't so bad so when Ben let us go, both Eric and I dropped to the ground. Eric rolled off to the side as not to fall on top of me. After getting myself up, I threw off the life jacket as Eric was reaching up to shut off his mother's camera. Ben was struggling with the ropes to get free.

"Great, guys! Now look where we are! I said it was a bad idea! I told you!"

I began crying and screaming hysterically. Eric threw off his safety jacket and went over to me. He grabbed my arms so I'd stop moving.

"Bianca, you have to be quiet. If you keep yelling, something is going to come for us."

It was at that moment that a strange call ripped through the air.

"It's a dinosaur," I whispered, purely terrified," Eric, what do we do?"

We both looked up at Ben who was still stuck in his same spot.

"Run," he told us," Run, don't turn back, I'll find you. Just find somewhere safe to hide."

"But, Uncle Ben!"

"GO NOW!"

Eric grabbed my wrist and we took off. We dodged tree branches and jumped over huge roots. We'd only been running for a couple minutes when we heard a strangled scream. We stopped and hid behind a tree as the screams died. That was it. Uncle Ben was gone.

"Oh my God!"

I fell to the ground in a heap, sobbing heavily on the spot.

"We're gonna die. Just like Uncle Ben. We're gonna die. Oh my…UNCLE BEN!"

Eric clamped a hand over my mouth as I kept screaming behind his hand.

"Shh, shhh, shhhh. We'll be fine. You have to trust me, but we have to keep moving."

I glared at him as he removed his hand.

"Move where? Dinosaurs are all over this island if you've forgotten."

"Not all of them are carnivorous, you know that!"

"Yeah, but what are the chances of us running into **those** and not ones that want to eat us for dinner!"

"If we keep moving, I think our chances will improve."

I groaned as Eric heaved me off of the ground. We ran for a good five minutes, but we had to stop because I felt like my body was going to cave in on me or explode. We were surrounded by leafy trees that were stories high.

"Where are you leading us?" I huffed, sitting on a tree root.

"I'm going to the middle of the island."

"What about the coast? We could see if someone will come for us!"

"My mom is the only one who knows and she won't think something is wrong until we don't come home next week. You're mom does actually know we were near this island, I assume?"

I shook my head. My mother had only known about Costa Rica. I hadn't bothered to call her before we left. I was regretting that decision now.

"What do you hope to find in the middle of the island?"

"The lab has to be there, maybe we can find food and some supplies there. Don't worry. I think we can walk from here. I don't think anything has noticed us here."

I slowly pulled myself off the tree root and followed Eric through the forest. It took us an hour at the least to get to the center of the island and find the lab. Most of it was ruined from the dinosaurs and plants growing over it. There were a lot of turned over trucks and storage units. Going into the building, we both saw the phone. I went over to see if it worked, but of course it didn't. I put the phone back on the jack with a sigh. Upon finding some vending machines, Eric was able to break one open and pull out some food which I stuck in my bag. Finding the place luckily empty and containing nothing we could use, we went back outside.

"You know, those trucks might prove useful," Eric said, running over to one.

It was a huge green truck that was tipped onto its side. Eric climbed up and opened a door on the side of the truck.

"Bianca, this is perfect! Come on!"

He disappeared inside the truck as I ran over and climbed up. I slid into the truck and found it had a ton of useful stuff. There were cans of food that didn't go bad, gas grenades, pillows, blankets, string, and many other things. I stepped over toward a chair and sat in it. I took my bag off my shoulders and dropped my head into my hands. Eric had found a small lantern and turned it on. It lit up and he hung it from a hook above our heads by the door.

"Well, at least we've found a place to stay," Eric announced, looking around.

He noticed me in my chair and came over.

"I'm sorry about Ben," he told me," He was a great guy."

I sighed and looked up at him.

"Yeah well…there isn't much we can do now. We've gotta survive this place now. But how do we even go about that?"

"Hmm…"

Eric looked around the place. He started walking around and moving things. He opened up a general space for around the door. He put things back on shelves from where they had fallen until there was enough space to walk around comfortably. Picking up some pillows and blankets he walked back over to me.

"We have to figure something out about sleeping space. There's barely enough from for two people in here."

I tried to get a hold of myself as I stood up and looked around. I took two blankets from Eric and placed them beside each other right beside the wall. I covered the blankets with pillows and then lay two more blankets on top. I looked at Eric and pointed to the makeshift beds.

"Pick one and lie down."

He did as I said and lay down on the spot to my left. I took a few pillows and put them in a line between the middle before dumping the last of the pillows and blankets on the two beds. Eric grinned as I lay back on mine.

"Nice job," he told me.

I smiled and got up off my very squishy bed. Eric followed me.

"We can't just stay in here the whole time, can we?"

Eric shook his head.

"I'll make some kind of camouflage coloring for when I go out. And if you have to go out, I should go with you."

"Wait, for when _you_ go out? And I have to be accompanied?"

"It's safer for you that way. You should only come out because it's necessary. I'll come out to check around. If you have to go out, then I should go with you to keep an eye out for you. Two pairs of eyes are better than one."

"That's not fair! You're treating me like I'm a child! If you're going out and I wanna go, I'm going."

Eric sighed.

"Fine, but we need to find running water or we won't last long."

"Okay."


	6. Water Search: Eric

I may have been trying to keep calm for Bianca, but internally I was freaking out. How the heck were we going to get off this island? How long could we survive if help wasn't coming? So many depressing questions with no answer, but Bianca had already proven to be a bit fragile for the time being. She'd just lost her uncle. And not just lost him, he was eaten by dinosaurs. Just great! I led the way slowly through the leafy environment, straining my ears to hear any signs of movement not coming from me or Bianca. My only companion trailed behind me, jumping at any sound that was out of the ordinary. I was relying on my knowledge of dinosaurs to get us through this until help came. I figured, though, that there was much more I would end up learning in the future than I would have ever hoped to. The two of us found a stream of clean water running only two minutes away from the truck which would be our temporary home. Bianca and I had found some empty bottles in the truck, so we washed them out as best we could and filled them with water to take back to the truck.

"Good to know we can bathe…somewhat," Bianca said, looking up and down the stream.

I tried not to imagine that at the moment. Considering I'd have to follow her wherever she went, and apparently vice versa, there were a few problems I did not want to have to tackle at the current moment. I watched her for a moment as she stuck the bottles in her bag.

"Water issue solved," I announced, holding the bottles of water," Hey, Bee- Bianca. What exactly did you bring in your bag?"

She turned and followed me as I began moving back toward the truck.

"A few changes of clothes, only about two sets, and the food we have. That's pretty much it."

"You planned the clothes?"

"With Uncle Ben I never knew what was going to happen. Actually I…"

She went mute, which made me turn around in curiosity.

"What? What is it?"

"I kinda mmhmmhm."

"Huh?"

"I grabbed an extra set of your clothes! Just in case."

I blinked at her in surprise.

"Really?"

Her face was bright red. She began walking ahead of me at a brisk pace.

"Don't feel special. I grabbed a set of Uncle Ben's as well. Not that he'll…need…it…"

And suddenly the casual feeling in the air died a little and the fear of being eaten alive heightened. Bianca's pace slowed till I was able to catch up to her.

"I can't help feeling bad. Maybe I should've helped him…"

"What could you have done? Beat of the dinosaur with a stick? Die instead?"

She gave me an unhappy look and fell back so I couldn't look at her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"It's okay. You're right in a way…"

"You know, I really wish I wasn't."

I threw a smile back at her and I got a quick grin in return. We were about to step out into the clearing where the truck was when Bianca grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me behind a tree with her. Her back was to the tree and she had me pulled up so close to her that I could barely move without touching her. Her face was white as a sheet.

"Wha-?"

"Shh. Look."

Peeking around the tree, there was a huge dinosaur with a fin on its back sniffing around. The dinosaur suddenly let out an ear-splitting cry that made me have to cover my ears. The thing was bigger than a T-rex. I felt Bianca shivering between me and the tree. The ground shook each time the gigantic dinosaur took a step. We had to wait about five minutes before it decided that it could better spend its time elsewhere.

"I hope that thing wasn't looking for us," Bianca whispered to me.

I had a feeling it had been. I grabbed her wrist and we made a dash for the truck. We got in without anything spotting us. Just as we both had slipped into the truck, we could hear a strange squeaking sound coming from outside.

"Compsognathus," I said, quickly pulling the door closed tightly.

"What?"

"They're really small dinosaurs, but they move in packs. They're carnivores and they will attack you as a group and kill you ruthlessly. I hear they go for the eyes."

"Thank you for that graphic image, Eric. Now could you turn the light on?"

I moved around in the dark, feeling the ceiling for the lamp I'd put up there. I accidentally ran into Bianca as I found it and switched it on. As light lit up the inside of our, hopefully, temporary home, I saw Bianca on the ground looking up at me with an unamused expression.

"Ow?"

"Sorry."

I took her hand and helped her up. Once up, the two of us picked up the bottles she'd dropped and put them on a free space on the shelves. After that, we both sat down. Bianca sat on her bed and I sat on the chair. She pulled off her bag and placed it at the bottom of the shelves.

"Hungry?" she asked, pulling a can off the shelf.

The can was pretty big. It was so big that we wound up splitting the food inside. We had gotten really lucky with this truck because it even had silverware in it. Once we were full, I sat back in my hair and Bianca lay down on her bed with a satisfied sigh. If only we didn't have to fear for our lives, I might have enjoyed living in such close quarters with a girl like this. Home sweet water truck! Yeah…great. I stared at Bianca as she stared up at the ceiling. She was wearing a pink tank top and a short jean skirt with tennis shoes that were once white but now covered in dirt and had grass stains. It struck me how well she dressed compared to me. I looked down at my red long-sleeve shirt with white stripes and my jean shorts. I felt like I'd dressed like a typical middle school boy, not the high school guy I would be in a few months. I was somewhat startled as Bianca suddenly sat up and looked at me.

"Earlier…you were going to call me Bee."

It was random, but it was true. I'd heard Ben call her Bumble Bee so much on the trip that I'd almost slipped.

"Sorry."

"You say that a lot."

"Probably because I think you deserve more than my apologies."

Somehow, that statement got me a legitimate smile from her as she lay back down on her bed.

"You can call me Bee, if you'd like. Just not Bumble Bee. Only my dad and Uncle Ben used to call me that."

I smiled to myself and got up. Opening the door I found that it was dark outside. Checking my watch, it was about 8:30 at night already. I looked over at Bianca to see that her eyes were already closing. It had been a long day and I was just as tired as she looked.

"Should we get some sleep?" I asked her.

She sat up in bed again and looked around. I could see that being in a new place, especially as strange as this place was, was getting to her now that she was thinking about. It was settling in for both of us that this is where we'd have to stay to survive.

"Yeah," she responded quietly, pulling off her shoes and socks tossing them over by her bag.

I pulled my own shoes off and was about to pull my shirt off when I stopped and looked at Bianca who was staring at me. I suddenly felt self-conscious. I know it seems funny. We'd been at the beach only yesterday and I'd had my shirt off, but now it just suddenly seemed different. You're supposed to take your shirt off at the beach if you're a guy. I'd never really considered how a girl might think I looked with a shirt off until this moment. I'm fourteen…am I supposed to look good with a shirt off? My mind was just so confused.

"Is it okay if I sleep with my shirt off?"

Her cheeks went pink. I felt a little bad about asking her all of a sudden. For one thing, she'd be dictating what I slept in which would make her feel awkward. Two, since I normally slept with my shirt off, she might feel bad if she said no. Three, she'd feel terrible if I died of heat stroke or took my shirt off in the middle of the night because I was melting. Four, if she told me to take my shirt off she was probably afraid I'd think she wanted it off. Five, she'd get to see me strip…which is also awkward. I felt my face heat up. I'd stuck her and myself in an embarrassing situation…over a **shirt**. And when our biggest problem was surviving on an island like this? This seemed…so strange.

"Whatever you feel comfortable doing…" she responded, biting her lip.

What was disconcerting was that she watched me make my decision as I stood there under the light. Figuring that there was no reason to be freaking out like this after she gave a non-committed answer to my question, I pulled my shirt off and tossed it onto the chair. Turning off the light, I moved slowly made my way over to the bed Bianca had made for me. Lying down, I pulled my blanket over me as I heard her doing the same with her own.

"Goodnight, Bee."

"Eric?"

I turned so that I was facing the pillow wall between us.

"Yeah?"

"I know this is going to sound horrible, but…I'm glad…I'm not stranded here by myself."

I gave a small laugh.

"I feel the same way."

"Goodnight, Eric."

"Goodnight."


	7. Capes and Cards: Bianca

I was so glad that Eric wasn't one of those guys who snore so loud that you can't sleep even if you tried really, really hard. I woke up to see a little sunshine seeping through the few cracks that there were in the truck. I did my best to tiptoe as silently as I could over to the shelf. I felt around on the shelves till I found what I wanted. Toilet paper. What? I had to go! So, doing my best to be as silent as a mouse, I opened the door and peeked out. Seeing no sign of anything living, other than the plants, I heaved myself out into the sun. I did my best to quietly shut the door before moving quickly into the trees. Finding a decent spot in the woods, I relieved myself and headed toward the river. I really wanted to wash my face. After doing that, I headed back to the truck. I was almost there when I heard a rustling sound. I stopped and hid behind a tree. I listened as the rustling got closer. Whatever it was stood near my tree. It was in that moment that I decided to use a distraction tactic and run for my life. I wondered how Eric would feel to waking up to diving into the truck and a dinosaur attacking our newly inhabited truck. Probably wouldn't be too happy. Raising the toilet paper roll in my hand, I jumped around the tree and threw it with all my might. I succeeded in hitting my target!

"Hey!"

I'd started running around the tree, but I stopped and looked back to see Eric giving me a look as if I were nuts. He hadn't bothered to put a shirt on and his hair stuck up in all different angles, meaning he'd just woken up.

"Oops?"

"Oops? What did you think a roll of toilet paper was going to do to a real dinosaur? Make it wet itself in fear?"

I pouted and marched over to Eric, who still did not look very happy. It's not like toilet paper hurts!

"What? You have this look on your face…"

"It is called irritation. I woke up to the sound of you closing the door. I thought I'd told you not to go out by yourself. You could have woken me up. I told you two pairs of eyes are better than one!"

I rolled my eyes at him.

"As if I was going to ask you to escort me to the bathroom!"

"Well, it is what we're going to do from now on."

I sighed as he trudged off into the woods to do his own business. I was now irritated. Every source of privacy was leaving. I suppose it made sense, since we needed each other to survive. Well…I needed him anyway. He probably would have done well without me. I on the other hand knew nothing of survival. When Eric came back, we both trudged back to the truck.

"Anything we need to dispose of should probably be done on the other side of the stream. Not in it, but on the other side. It might make the dinosaurs think we're on the other side of the stream."

"Cause they're just that smart."

"Don't underestimate them. Remember Dr. Grant's books."

"Dino-nut," I muttered under my breath.

Safely back in the truck, we pulled out random food for breakfast before sitting around in boredom. The truck was extremely warm as we were only 207 miles from Costa Rica and it was killing me. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, using the hair tie I always wore on my wrist.

"I should probably gather leaves to make into camouflage," Eric said.

I remembered him saying that last night and I shrugged.

"If you think it's a good idea, go for it. Will we need two?"

"If we do, we can always make another one, but let's just go for one right now."

We spent a good portion of the day collecting leaves and stringing them together. I was surprised to find that Eric was extremely creative and pretty good at making random things.

"You're pretty impressive, making this thing," I admitted to him.

His face went a little pink.

"Thanks. My parents say I'm pretty resourceful. Grounding me was pretty rough for them. I'd always find something to entertain myself."

I smiled. I could imagine that. After the cape was finished, Eric folded it and placed it up on a shelf.

"Might have to make a new one after awhile. Depending on how long we're here the leaves will get brown and that'd make lame cover."

I couldn't help but sulk a little at the thought. How many capes might we have to make before we can go home? And would both of be able to make these capes? How many would we have to make if we **weren't** going to make it home? Eric seemed to notice what I was thinking.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. Trust me, alright?"

I nodded and got up. I didn't know what I wanted to do. There was barely anything **to** do. I turned as I heard Eric get up.

"I'm going to go check out the lab again, see if there is anything else we can use. Coming with me?"

"Yeah."

I grabbed my bag before we crawled out of the truck and ran into the lab. This time we decided to check the offices. The offices had been relatively untouched by dinosaurs. Eric found a crème jacket in one office and pulled it on. He even found a deck of cards that was left. I stuck some paper and writing utensils in my bag. Eric and I went through all the drawers we could. Whenever I found leftover girl supplies, I put them in my bag, which almost put a sly smirk on Eric's face.

"What? They are necessaries," I told him hotly.

He would just shrug at my comments about it and we'd continue on. We conveniently found tons of medication for humans that could come in handy for pain or even injury. When we'd cleaned out all we needed from the offices we went back to the entrance. It had started to downpour while we'd been in the lab. Eric took his new jacket and put it over my head. I grabbed at it as Eric grabbed my wrist and we made a dash for the truck. We were pretty soaked by the time we had shut the door of the truck. Eric's jacket had spared my top and skirt, but Eric was completely soaked. I pulled off my shoes and pulled out a towel and tossed it to him before hanging his jacket on the back of the chair. Eric pulled his soaked shirt off and did his best to dry off as I placed the stuff in my bag on the shelves. At the bottom of the bag, I found Eric's extra set of clothes.

"Here."

I held out a dry shirt and shorts to him. He took them from me with a smile.

"Thanks."

"I, uh…also packed a pair of _these_ if you need them."

I held out my open bag to him. After peeking into the bag, Eric began laughing. My face heated up with embarrassment. I closed my bag and put it on its spot on the shelf and sat on my bed. I refused to look at the laughing boy before me.

"Can't say what they are, Bee?"

"Jerk."

"Oh, c'mon. It's kinda funny! Can't you just say _"boxers"_?"

He continued laughing as I sat glaring at him.

"Of course I can say…b-b…**boxers**. There!"

Eric's laughing slowed till he just had a huge, annoying smile on his face. He put his clothes on the chair.

"Why do I always feel like I'm stripping in front of you?" he asked, pulling his shirt on.

"Because in society there isn't anything wrong with women seeing men in naught but their underwear."

Eric looked over at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Is it me, or do you sound like a textbook when I ask you certain questions?"

"Shut up," I blushed, looking down at the ground.

I hated that about myself. I'd spent more time reading books than talking to people so if I spoke for too long I started to quote books and spew information I had learned from them. I was embarrassed by this trait of mine and I didn't want to seem weird. Eric quickly pulled off his shorts and changed them while he assumed I was distracted before coming toward me.

"Hey, I didn't mean it in a bad way. While we're here, you'll hear me spit more than my fair share of information about dinosaurs. My friends call me a dinosaur nerd. They keep saying I should get out of my fourth grade love of dinosaurs."

I looked at Eric who seemed to be remembering when his friends had said that to him in his mind.

"Your friends are stupid," I mumbled.

Eric grinned.

"I know."

"Then why hang out with them?" I asked.

"Girls pay attention to them. If I hung out with them, girls would notice me, too. You noticed I hung out with them, right? See, it works."

I frowned.

"Not in a **good** way."

Eric sighed and put his arms on his knees.

"Depends on the girl…"

A sudden clap of thunder made me jump a foot in the air. Eric had been startled, less by the loud thunder, but more by the squeak I'd let out before diving under my blanket. I heard Eric chuckle, so I peeked out at him.

"You're not afraid of thunder are you?"

"No! I just don't like loud noises. They freak out most normal people."

Eric just grinned at me as I crawled out from under the blanket.

"It was unexpected," I defended.

"Okay."

Eric got up and draped his wet clothing over shelf corners to dry. Pulling the deck of cards out of his wet shorts pocket, he looked over at me before sitting on the ground.

"Know any card games?"

I shook my head.

"Wanna learn?"

I watched him for a moment before moving over to him. What can I say? I'm willing to learn.


	8. Woman Thing: Eric

We've been here a few days and I'm unsure whether it is a bad thing or a good thing that we're getting used to living here. The day before yesterday I had gone out on my own and found T-Rex pee in the woods. A huge dinosaur with a fine was hanging around so I didn't stick around for very long, but there were no other dinosaurs around **at all**. I figured that if we had a vial of it we could use it in case of an emergency. When I came back with some yesterday…let's just say Bianca thought I had lost my mind. She was getting better at all the card games I'd taught her. Old Maid, Go Fish, Poker, Blackjack. Yeah…I know a lot of card games, but the girl learns super fast. And we have nothing but time out here...

Bianca had decorated the place a little with random flowers and in her spare time I started making paper dolls to keep herself entertained. She was a surprisingly good artist and the dolls all had different appearances that made them extremely unique. Things had been going pretty well for us up until that point. Yet one day, I woke up to stifled groans. It was at least morning so I got up and turned the light on. I found Bianca lying rigid on her side with her face scrunched up in pain. I instantly went over and, leaning over her, put a hand on her shoulder.

"Bee, what's wrong? Are you hurt? Are you sick?"

"Uggh, worse…"

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Huh?"

She glanced over at me and her face went pink. She tried to bury her head in her pillow as she groaned again.

"Can you just give me some painkillers with water?"

"Sure…"

I went over to a shelf and put two painkillers in my hand before putting a little bit of water from the containers we had into makeshift cups I'd made. I'd taken some soda bottles we'd used and cut them in half. The bottoms worked well enough as cups. I went over to Bianca who and groaned and hissed herself into a sitting position. Her back was curved in pain and she looked so pale that I was worried about her. I was afraid she'd pass out at any moment. Handing her the pills, she tossed them in her mouth and took the water from me. She swallowed and sighed, gritting her teeth a little.

"Thanks, Eric."

She turned back onto her side and went back to the position he had been in.

"Why do I have to be a girl?" I heard her mutter.

It suddenly hit me why she was in so much pain and I couldn't help it when my face burned as if it were on fire. I went and sat in the chair and looked over at her sheepishly.

"At least this means you're healthy…"

"Oh, shut up!" she snapped.

Bianca was scary when she was mad. She had this glare that pierced you like ice daggers. Not very friendly at all. I began wondering if her being angry was better than being face to face with a raptor. Either way could kill you, but I figured I'd rather die by Bianca's wrath.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not really."

"Do you have enough…uhm, you know…of **those**?"

Bianca picked up one of the pillows forming a wall between our beds and chucked it at me.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"NO! It was a genuine question."

If this was how marriage would be when my wife was on her period, I'd rather stay single. I could not imagine standing in the check-out line holding lady products. How embarrassing…And if my wife was just going to snap at me for a few days…forget it.

"There are enough. The women who worked here didn't care too much about those kinds of things when they ditched this place."

After about ten minutes, she seemed to be mellowing out. She wasn't groaning and moaning and her body seemed to relax. She lay staring at the pillow wall.

"I wish I was at home."

"I do, too."

"When I felt like this, my mom would sit by me and pet my hair as I watched television to forget about the pain. Not to mention the convenience of a bathroom."

She sighed and pressed her face against a pillow that made up the wall.

"It's embarrassing to say, but in the middle of the night…I'll have to…"

I grinned slightly at her embarrassment.

"Just wake me up. It isn't a big deal; I'll go with you whenever you need me. Can't have you out there alone in this kind of state. I'll even help you walk there if you're in a lot of pain."

She narrowed her eyes at me.

"I can walk just fine, thanks," she muttered to herself, making me chuckle.

Her eyes suddenly widened and she looked over at me.

"Can the dinosaurs smell blood?"

"Relax, this tank is pretty hefty, so if you stay here, you should be fine."

"But what about when…?"

I tried to give her the most comforting smile I could.

"Everything will be fine. They're not as good as sharks at smelling blood."

She sighed, seemingly with relief and hugged a pillow in front of her.

"I miss my mom…I miss home…I miss Uncle Ben…"

I stared at the wall of the water truck.

"I miss my parents…even if they were together and bickered all the time."

Bianca looked over at me.

"How long have they been separated?"

"A year. It was better that way. They just…didn't work and they fought all the time."

"I'm sorry."

"Losing your dad must have been tougher though."

Bianca uncomfortably turned to face the wall instead of me.

"For awhile, yeah. Of course I miss him like crazy, but it's been awhile and people have to move on. My mom finally is. I feel a little weird about it, but if it is what she needs to do then she should do what makes her happy. I went on this trip just so she could get some alone time to date. Well, now she's getting more than she bargained for. Nnngh…"

I watched in horror as her shoulders began to shake and the sniffling started. Crying women. The weakness of any normal male. I stood up in alarm and looked around, trying to find some way to comfort her. Sadly, there was no ice cream since that was what my mom binge ate whenever she was sad. Bianca gave out a quiet wail into a pillow and I automatically went over and sat on the edge of her bed.

"There, there…" I said, awkwardly patting her arm," It's okay."

"No it's not! I miss my mom and I wanna go home. I don't want to die! It isn't okay!"

She began to cry even harder.

"Okay, it isn't okay, but we're gonna make it. We've made it for a good amount of days already. We'll do okay. Come on. You're…smart and…courageous. We'll make it off this island. Just have faith."

The crying slowed a little.

"You think so?"

Wow, stroking a woman's ego worked almost as well as when you give a man a compliment. Instant relaxation.

"Yeah! Uh, so don't cry. We can do this."

Bianca sniffed and wiped her eyes on her blanket.

"Thanks, Eric. Sorry, as well. I get a little…emotional when…"

"I get it," I told her, relaxing a bit," No worries."

Bianca turned rigidly so she could face me once again. She smiled up at me with tear stained cheeks and red eyes.

"You're a really nice guy, Eric. I can't understand how you hung around with those guys at school. You're different from how I thought you were."

I grinned at her, knowing I was probably a little pink in the face as I did so.

"Well, it's working out for me. See, now that you're getting to know me, I seem pretty awesome compared to them."

I succeeded in making her laugh, which I took as a triumph. I got up and moved over to the shelves.

"So, breakfast?"

"Definitely."


	9. Bath Time: Bianca

I made up my mind. I refused to go another day without bathing. Yes, it had been almost two weeks since we'd been stranded here and, yes, my lady issues were now over. In all that time, neither Eric nor I had done more than cleaned our faces. I was stopping this bad habit now. Neither one of us wanted to be the one to start the topic of bathing as Eric was sticking to his rule of "Bianca can't leave the truck without Eric". It was time to suck it up. I lay in bed waiting for Eric to wake up. I wasn't surprised he slept more than I did. I was an unnaturally early riser and it had become apparent that Eric was definitely nothing close to that. Rolling onto my stomach, I sighed and pressed my face into my pillow. Waking up early with nothing to do was something I detested because it made me think about the horrific situation Eric and I were in. There was a discouraging feeling of time passing and there being no one to rescue us. Two weeks felt like so much longer and the stress was weighing us down. It was as if we were standing on the edge of a cliff, just waiting for the ground beneath our feet to give out and our time would end with us being crammed into the maw of a random dinosaur. I lifted up my head as I heard Eric turn over with a groan. That meant he was waking up. I poked my head over the top of the pillow wall.

"Eric?"

"Mrr, wha-?"

"Are you awake?"

"Meh."

I smiled and leaned my torso onto the pillows so I could shake him. He groaned louder, but his eyes opened and he glared at me. Low blood pressure in the morning. That must suck.

"I'm up. What?" he asked.

I pulled back so that he could only see my eyes over the pillow as the rest of my face went pink.

"I think it is about time that we had bathes."

Eric blinked at me for a moment before rolling onto his side.

"I'm still sleeping."

"Eric!"

I whacked him with a pillow, making him turn around again. This time he sat up.

"Wait, really?"

I rolled my eyes and sat up.

"Look, it's no big deal, right? You stand a distance away with your back turned and I do the same for you."

Eric scratched his hair, making it stand up more than it already was.

"I guess…"

"And you can't peek!" I added, sternly.

Eric smirked at me.

"As tempted as I'm sure I'll be as a teenage male, I think I can manage that much."

I laughed and hit him with a pillow.

"Don't deny you want a piece of this."

I didn't feel awkward until after I'd said it. The smile on my face slipped off and I looked away feeling embarrassed. I didn't believe for a moment that Eric would actually even be tempted to look. I looked gross from weeks of grime and who knows what and I'm not super attractive or anything. As I got off the bed, I heard Eric moving off of his as well.

"Bee?"

It made me a little sad inside to hear the way he called to me. He obviously knew what I was thinking. He was smart like that. But he didn't know how to answer me because he didn't want to hurt my feelings. I turned and gave him a forced grin.

"To the water."

He hesitated for a moment before sighing.

"Sure."

I let Eric take the lead as he was better at scouting ahead than I was. We reached the stream at its deepest point closest to the truck without running into any dinosaurs. I looked over at Eric and we stood awkwardly wondering what to say or do from here.

"You can go first," Eric offered, turning and walking back quite a few yards.

"Uhm…sure."

I watched him walk until he stopped and with his back still turned away, leaned against the tree closest to him. Still watching him, I hesitantly undressed. Even if I'm not that attractive, as a teenage boy maybe he'd still look? I finished undressing and stepped into the river. Eric wasn't turning around. I was either right that I was just not attractive enough to him or he had a strong will to not look. Washing up didn't take too long, but I felt so happy to get rid of all the dirt that had built up on me and to finally wash my hair with care. After drying with a towel I'd brought with me, which I had packed in my magic backpack, I changed into cleaner clothes and switched places with Eric. And no, I had no desire to look at Eric. I'd seen him shirtless and there was nothing wrong, but I was not about to be a creepy person and well…you get it. After he finished, we made our way back to the truck in silence. Halfway there, Eric stopped and put his hand out for me to do the same. We listened and I heard what he had. Rustling leaves that were very close and loud sounds that were close to a bird's. Eric grabbed my wrist and pulled me over to a tree with moderately low branches. The foliage gave us a bit of cover as Eric pressed me up against the tree as three a velociraptor came into view. I squeaked in terror, only to have Eric's hand clamp onto my mouth.

"Shh…" he whispered into my ear.

The three raptors were sniffing the air, trying to catch a scent. I knew they were looking for us. It was a gut feeling. They'd probably caught our scent and were trying to follow it.

"We can't run from them, Bee. We need to climb the tree," I heard him say into my ear.

I nodded and let him help push me up into the tree. I started climbing and I could hear him quietly climbing up after me. We'd climbed quite a few feet off the ground before Eric surprised me by throwing the dirty clothes we'd previously been wearing as far as he could. As we were up in the tree, the clothes landed a good distance farther away from us than they would have if he'd thrown them from the ground. The velociraptors dashed over toward the clothes, squawking and picking up the clothes and tearing them to shreds. They didn't taste very good, apparently, as they dropped them and communicated with each other in what sounded like irritated tones. The dinosaurs stuck around searching for us for a good hour or so before giving up and moving off in the opposite direction of the truck. Eric motioned for us to head down when he decided it was safe. He reached the ground first and then helped me down from the bottom branch to the ground.

"Good call on the baths," he said to me before we took off running toward the truck.

Luckily we ran into nothing else on our way back. Once in the truck, I collapsed onto my bed, feeling the adrenaline decreasing in my body.

"How in the world did you hear them?" I asked Eric in amazement," I didn't hear anything until you stopped me."

Eric grabbed a water bottle we were sharing and drank some before passing it to me.

"I was listening for it, that's why. Gotta be careful out there, you know."

I did know, but I was no good at this survival stuff. I was useless and I had the feeling that, if we died, I would be the cause.

"I should just stay in this truck and never leave," I moaned, before taking a drink from the bottle," I can't do this. If we die, it'll be because I suck at surviving in the wild."

I couldn't help it as tears streamed down my cheeks.

"You should just let me die, that way you'd have a better chance of getting off this island."

"Hey!"

I began to cry harder as Eric dashed over to me and put his hands on my shoulders. He shook me a little, but he was gentle.

"Don't talk like that. We'll both be fine. You have to think positive. I keep telling you that!"

"B-but…"

"No."

Eric said that so sternly that I looked up at him through my tears. I let him pull me into a hug and he held me in that hug as I cried.

"We're going to get off this island together or not at all, okay?" he told me as my crying sniffled to a stop.

I could only give a slight nod as I let my forehead rest against his shoulder. I agreed, but I didn't believe it. I was the weak link, the crybaby, the liability. I wanted to be stronger, but I just couldn't seem to make myself see things the way Eric did. But I really, really wanted to believe he was right.


	10. Minor Cuts: Eric

I was having a great day. I'd decided to do more exploring and so far I ran into a group of velociraptors, the same spinosaurus that had been near the water truck a week or so ago, and a t-rex. Living on this island was beginning to weigh me down as much as it was affecting Bianca, but I couldn't let on. I had a feeling that if I let her know just how worried I was, she'd get depressed. If that happened, our lucky would only drop. I slipped into the truck with a heavy sigh. Bianca had been putting together another cape of leaves as the one I wore was almost completely brown. I threw off my cape and hissed before babying my left arm. Dropping the half finished cape, Bianca came over to me and grabbed my arm.

"Something got you?" she asked, incredulously.

She grabbed the first aid kit we had put together and ripped the sleeve of my shirt.

"No. I fell as I ran away from a t-rex. Thorny bush. My arm got a huge cut from a pointy stick on the ground."

She seemed slightly relieved, but only slightly. She examined me closely and saw that I had a bunch of scraps on my knees and the shirt I wore was pretty much ruined. She grabbed the clothes I had come to the island in, a towel, the first aid kit, and a couple water bottles and stuffed them in her bag.

"We're cleaning you up in the stream. Come on."

"I have to go back out there?"

She stood looking around the truck for a moment before tucking half a dozen gas grenades into the bag as well. She heaved me up and we left the truck. For some reason, things didn't attack as often when Bianca was with me. She may think that she was the one who would get us killed, but she didn't see how lucky she was. Then again, I was putting pain on my own self by exploring the stupid island in the first place. When we reached the water, Bianca set her bag down and sat on a rock beside it.

"Sit here," she commanded, pointing to the place where we bathed which was right in front of her.

"I'm not stripping in front of you," I announced stubbornly.

Bianca rolled her eyes and got up.

"You are a guy. You can keep your boxers on, sheesh."

Grabbing me, she forcefully pushed me into the water. I came up spluttering. The multiple cuts on my body screamed as the freezing water surrounded them.

"Bee!"

"Keep your voice down."

She slipped into a shallower part of the water that went up to her thighs, but didn't reach the short skirt she was wearing. I tried to swim away from her, but she grabbed my shirt and pulled it off. She put it in the water behind her and put a rock on it so the water might soak away the smell of the blood. She reached toward me again, but I stayed just out of her reach.

"Eric, come here."

"You're not taking my pants."

"Ugh, stubborn."

She kept leaning out toward me until she slipped off the rock and fell into the water. She resurfaced, coughing water. I grabbed her before she slipped back under and swam her over to the rock she'd been on previously. She sat on it. She was shorter than the water was deep, so she couldn't reached the bottom. She'd been so surprised by her fall, she couldn't get the water out of her lungs before her body tried to take her under again. I waited as she sat on the rock, the water being shallow enough at this part that she could sit and still be a decent way out of the water. She coughed out the rest of the water and rubbed water out of her eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked, pushing her wet hair out of her face.

"I'm *cough* fine. That was unexpected. Never really was a great swimmer. *cough* Now take off your pants."

I figured since she'd almost drowned to get my pants off, I might as well do it. Putting my pants with my shirt, I sat beside her in the shallow water. She seemed fine after a moment and grabbed the first aid kit. The blood on my body had mostly left, but Bianca wiped any remaining blood away with a wet cloth. I cringed over the next half hour as she put antibacterial crap over all of my cuts before covering me in band aids.

"You really overdid it, Eric," she commented, putting the stuff away in her backpack," We ran out of band aids. We had less than we thought. You'll have to be more careful."

I nodded and got up out of the water. I tried off with the towel she'd brought before putting on the dry clothes. We picked up my dripping wet set of clothes and trekked back to the truck.

"Thanks for patching me up, Bee," I told her as we climbed into the truck.

She grinned and shook her head.

"No worries."

Suddenly, there was a loud bellow that sounded from the nearby edge of trees. I pushed Bianca into the truck before pulling the truck door shut as I slipped inside and locked it.

"Spinosaurus. Probably looking for me."

Bianca blinked at me.

"You said you ran into a t-rex."

"Yeah, I forgot to mention the spinosaurus that likes coming to this area to look for us and a few velociraptors. I got rid of the raptors with the smoke grenade, outsmarted the t-rex, but the spinosaurus didn't see me. I think it just knows we're in the area."

Bianca stared at me, almost angrily. I knew that look. It was the exact look my mother gave me when she was concerned that the things I did randomly would get me killed. The two of us moved away from the door and moved onto our beds. If the dinosaur decided to crush the truck, it would probably aim for the middle where the door was.

"I hate this," Bianca hissed, putting her pillow over her head and curling up on the bed.

I lay on my side of the bed saying nothing. I agreed though. Hopefully, no dinosaur would figure out we were in here. I turned my head toward the pillow wall upon seeing the pillows move slightly. Bianca had slid her hand under the pillows and I took it, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"It won't find us in here," I reassured her," Trust me."

"I trust you."

Her reply had been soft but it made me small and I felt affection for my only companion rise in my chest.

"How come you trust what I say so easily?" I asked.

Probably not the time to ask why she trusts me, especially when I told her to, but I wanted to know. I felt her hand twitch in mine.

"Because you're the only friend I **can **trust right now."

I grinned and squeezed her hand again. She finally admitted that she accepted me. After two weeks of being stuck with me, she finally liked me as a person. I couldn't help thinking how many weeks more it would take before she might like me as more than a friend, but I stopped thinking like that quickly. We didn't know how many more weeks we'd be here and it wasn't a happy thought to think we'd be stuck here for even another day.


	11. Summer Cold: Bianca

-Bianca-

Two more days and we were still on the island. Even more amazing was that we were both alive. Yet, I woke up to groans of pain. I looked over at Eric to see him curled up in a ball with his hand in front of his mouth. The previous night he had gotten a little bit of a cough, but I could tell it had warped into more than that over night. He began coughing and I could have sworn he was going to cough up an internal organ. Apparently, his chest hurt every time he coughed as his other hand went to his chest. I scrambled over the pillow wall, knocking it over onto my side of the bed and pulled him so that he was sitting up.

"Is it a cold?" I asked him as he began coughing even more.

He nodded after coughing and just went limp in my arms.

"My throat is scratchy."

It sounded like it, too. I placed the pillows from the pillow wall in a huge pile by the pillow he slept with and let him lie back on that as I went to the shelf. I could cough and cold medicines near the first aid kit. I grabbed one of the water bottles as well and crawled back over to him. He was apparently used to being babied when he was sick because he let me give him his medicine and help him drink his water.

"Summer colds suck, huh?" I smiled at him as he drank his water.

"Uhn. I don't know if I'm too cold or too hot. If I use the blanket, I want to take it off. But I'm cold without it."

I knew how that was. Having a cold made everything seem so much more complicated, especially when your body couldn't decide what temperature it wanted to be. I grabbed his blanket and wrapped him in it anyway.

"Better to be warm then cold. Honestly, just do what you need to," I told him, getting off the beds.

I slipped my shoes on and headed for the exit after grabbing my backpack.

"Where are you going?" Eric asked, sitting up.

I turned back to him and smiled.

"Lie back down. I'm just gonna take a quick trip to the bathroom and come back, okay?"

Eric pouted, but lay back down.

"You have five minutes or I'm coming after you."

"Fine," I rolled my eyes.

I felt a little good on the inside that he was concerned about me, but I pushed the door open and groaned. I hadn't heard the rain because I'd been paying so much attention to Eric, but it was downpouring. I quickly slipped out of the truck and dashed into the trees. By the time I got back to the truck, I was soaked. Eric, who had fallen asleep in the few minutes that I was gone, looked at me in surprise.

"Did you fall in the stream?"

I threw my bag down and kicked my shoes off.

"No. It's raining pretty bad out there."

"Oh," he responded drowsily.

His eyes began to close again as I pulled my shirt off. I snickered to myself as his eyes shot back open before he groaned and pulled his blanket over his head while he coughed profusely.

"Are you okay over there?" I asked, digging around in my bag for a dry set of clothes.

"You could have warned me," he muttered just loud enough for me to hear.

I grabbed a dry shirt and jean shorts.

"Well I figured if you had to deal with taking your shirt off in front of me then I should have to deal with the same thing sometimes. You don't want me getting sick like you in wet clothes do you?"

Eric buried himself deeper in his covers.

"It's not the same. You can't desensitize a man to a girl in a bra. It just doesn't work."

"How are you sensitive to a bra? It's a piece of cloth."

The ball of blanket that was Eric twitched and he coughed a couple times.

"I'm not saying anything more."

I giggled at him. I switched into my jean shorts while he was still under the blanket and slipped on my t-shirt before falling back onto the bed.

"You can come out now."

Eric cautiously peeked an eye out, saw that I was fully clothed, and threw the covers off.

"You're…I don't know what you are, but you are!"

That had to have been the least intelligent thing I'd ever heard Eric say, so I was sent into hysterics. I eventually calmed down and just smirked at him as he laid coughing and glaring at me.

"At least now you can tell your friends you've seen a girl with her shirt off," I joked bitterly, fixing my side of the bed so it looked a little neater.

Eric pulled his covers back on with a sigh.

"I wouldn't tell anyone. It's none of their business."

I grinned as Eric threw his covers off again in exasperation. I crawled over to him and lay down beside him. He looked at me in confusion as I held my arms out to him.

"Don't be a big baby. Unlike a blanket, I shouldn't make you too hot or too cold. If I make you too warm all you have to do is move away a little and come back if you're cold."

I could see that Eric was fighting a battle in his mind. I suddenly felt stupid, so I let my arms drop. Why would he want to be that close to me? That's awkward, even if we were friends now.

"Aren't you afraid you'll get sick?" he asked, quietly, coughing a little.

I frowned at him.

"Not really…"

Eric shrugged and, to my surprise, wiggled himself into my arms. I wrapped my arms around his back as he cuddled himself to my chest.

"I feel less like a man for this," he mumbled into my chest," The man usually holds the girl…"

I chuckled lightly and I felt him smile.

"I won't tell anyone about this. I promise."

Eric seemed content with that response and it took him almost no time at all to fall asleep in my arms.


	12. Awkward Moments: Eric

It took me three days to get over my ridiculous cold. It had felt horrible, but I'd also enjoyed being babied by Bianca. I woke up feeling great. I could breathe properly and I wasn't coughing out my lungs anymore. It was comfortably warm. It wasn't from the weather and it wasn't from me being bundled in a bunch of blankets. It was the comforting warmth I believe only a female can provide as Bianca was sound asleep with her arms wrapped around me. She'd done this every night I was sick and I wasn't complaining. I'd never noticed how soft girls actually are until she'd pulled me into her arms. It was a little embarrassing, but there was no one around to see us. I smiled to myself remembering how she'd teased me about seeing her in a bra. It was better that she believe it was that I had been flustered about. How could I tell her that what I'd been freaking out about was behind the cloth? I wasn't about to try. She'd think I'm some kind of pervert or something. I'm only male! Ugh. As I lay with my eyes closed, I was suddenly struck by the urge to hold _her_. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter. What was I thinking? I couldn't do that. She'd probably hit me or something. But…she _was _asleep. Wiggling out of her arms easily, I stared at her for a moment before wrapping my arms around her. I was suddenly struck by the realization to how small and fragile she was compared to me. I mean, I wasn't super tall for my age or anything, but her frame was small in comparison. My hand touched her hair and it felt so soft. Softer than mine ever felt. A strange sensation was building in my chest. It was warm, but it was nice. I closed my eyes as I pulled her closer to me. I felt weird. I _liked_ holding her. I felt…like a man, as stupid as that sounds. Before I could think or do anything more, her eyes slowly opened.

"Eric?" she asked, apparently surprised to be looking at my bare chest instead of the top of my head.

I let go of her instantly and she began blushing a cute pink.

"I'm sorry!" I told her as I slid away from her," I-I don't know why I…"

Bianca sat up with her arms wrapped around her as if to bar me from her.

"I-I'm so sorry!"

I fell onto my pillow, my face burying into it deeply. I heard the sound of soft laughter and looked up.

"It's okay. I was just surprised, that's all. I just…I haven't really been hugged by a boy before and…it was kind of like that I guess. I take it you're feeling better."

I sat up and looked at her sheepishly.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks. You took good care of me."

Bianca smiled and got up. Now that we were quiet, we could hear that rain was pounding on the truck from the outside. We both sighed. It had been raining for the past few days off and on. Every morning greeted us with a downpour. Bianca tossed me a shirt and we went out to use the bathroom and wash up as much as we could. The rain kind of did the job for us. When we got back to the trunk, we both felt like wet dogs.

"This rain is getting ridiculous," I sighed, pulling my shirt off again and hanging it on a string that Bianca had hung up for our clothes to dry on.

I grabbed and towel and rubbed at my hair. I turned to Bianca only to make a splutter noise as I noticed her pink bra before looking at her face. I whipped around and sighed.

"Bee, you could warn a guy!"

"I thought you were getting used to it by now."

"Yeah…right. Used to it."

"Anyway, you have to go right under the covers after changing. I don't want you getting sick again. You need to warm yourself up."

I smiled slightly at her mothering tone as I swapped my jean shorts for another pair of pants. I glanced back at her only to almost trip over the shorts I was putting on as her skirt dropped to the floor. I turned back around, my face burning.

"BEE!"

"It isn't my fault you were peeking!"

"Warn me, please!"

"Are you complaining because you find me unattractive or something?"

"That isn't it at _all_!"

I heard her scoff before I was pushed onto my bed. I tried to look away, but my face was grabbed and Bianca's face hovered before me.

"Who knows how long we'll be here so get used to it! Take a good hard look and move on."

"But, Bee…"

She let go of my face and took a few steps back. So much blood rushed to my face I thought it would melt from the heat. I decided I didn't need to warm up under any blankets at this rate. Because she was yelling at me, I eyes took in her pink bra and the matching underwear. I nonchalantly put my hands on my lap.

"Are you good now?" she asked me.

I nodded as she wiggled into a pair of shorts and pulled a tank top on. I pulled on a shirt and crawled under some blankets though I wasn't cold at all.

"How can you be so calm about a guy looking at you in your underwear?" I asked her.

It isn't like I was complaining because I didn't want to see a…_developed_ female in her underwear, but because it seemed odd to me. I though women were freaked out about that sort of thing. I heard Bianca drop down on her bed as she dried her hair.

"I suppose it's because I have a high tolerance for it. Do you remember that "Are you Nervous?" game that boys would play with the girls sometimes?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I played once in about fifth grade. I wasn't really bothered at all because I figured, they're not really grabbing at anything and it isn't like you can really see anything _and_ I figure you're not a big fat jerk, so…."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. Well, it was nice to know she didn't think I was a jerk, but I was starting to wonder if she actually looked at me as a male. She obviously lacked some information when it came to males. Just because I didn't act like a perverted jerk, didn't mean I didn't think like one. Because in my mind at the moment…well…let's not get into that. I pulled the covers over my head to try and clear my mind out. I heard Bianca giggling before she crawled over to me and she peeked under the blanket at my face.

"You're not relieving any frustration under there are you?" she teased.

HOW DOES SHE GET AWAY WITH SAYING THAT SO EASILY? I pushed the covers off and stared at her.

"N-NO! I wouldn't do that…I mean…I…NO!"

She tilted her head at me.

"Why are you freaking out so much? It's only natural for males your age to-"

"STOP! Stop it! Please! I'm begging you to stop there!"

She frowned at me. My naïve, innocent, yet knowledgeable companion. She was starting to make me nervous. She really did think of me as a man. I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Bee. You don't just talk to a guy about ma-ma-ma…_that_. Most don't even talk to their mothers about that. Let alone girls their age that are potential…"

I stopped and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Potential…what?"

"Nevermind. You don't just talk about that stuff so easy. I mean, some guys are open about that type of stuff, but it's really because they're perverted and are hinting at women that they are ready to have sexual relations with the opposite sex."

"But that's human nature…"

"Yes, yes it is, but it's just…Just trust me and please don't talk about it."

I was surprised to see that Bianca looked somewhat down suddenly.

"I thought that friends could talk about anything."

I suddenly felt a pressure in my chest by that small statement. I didn't understand the feeling completely, cause it felt like there were a few swimming around in me that morphed into one big feeling.

"Aw, Bee. That's not what I mean. How am I supposed to put this?"

I thought for a moment. I didn't want to make her sad, but I also didn't want to freak her out and make her think I was some perverted asshole. I took a deep breath and scratched my hair.

"Bee. You're a very…attractive girl. And for one, I don't think you should just be okay with stripping in front of guys just because they are your friend. Now, since you've already done that with me, I suppose there isn't a way we can hide ourselves completely while stuck on this island, but when we get home I don't think you should make it a habit. Because eventually, you'll make more guy friends and if you do that in front of some guys…not all of them are going to hide under the blankets like I do, if you get what I'm saying so far."

Bianca nodded. She had seemed to perk up at the fact that I thought she was attractive. Again, I was amazed that female and male egos were pretty similar.

"Now, I don't mind talking to you about things. I mean, honestly, it's nice that you're being very open with me, but most guys, like me, feel awkward talking about…uh…how we "relieve our tension". Especially since I have no intention of having children before I'm married. And the last thing I want you to think is that I'm some kind of pervert or something. But, really, Bee, if you want to talk to me about these types of things because you want to understand…I won't stop you anymore. Just…don't go asking people these types of things in typical conversations, okay?"

She nodded.

"Okay. I'm sorry."

I smiled at her. I put a hand on her head and gave her a mini-noogie.

"Don't be. You didn't know."

She smiled and pushed my hand away.

"So…I can ask you any question?"

I thought for a moment, a little afraid at what she might ask.

"Sure?"

"Since you don't believe in sex before marriage, what do you believe in before marriage?"

I blinked at her before laughing uncontrollably. This girl was something else. So many things came to mind that I figured if I actually answered her question, she'd think I really _was_ a pervert. She gave me a frustrated look.

"Eric, why are you laughing at me?"

"Oh, Bee, you're adorable."

"What's that supposed to mean? Answer the question."

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Just stuff."

"ERIIIIC!"

I continued to laugh as she whined at me about how mean and horrible I was for laughing at her question and not giving her a straight answer. It may sound a little bad, but I was really glad that I was stuck on this island with a girl who could make me laugh like this and who was so innocent to the male mind.


	13. Some Conversation: Bianca

Okay…I'm stupid. I admit it. I may know tons of stuff from reading, but it is all pretty much useless to me here on this island. This fact was made perfectly clear as I ran away from three velociraptors. I'd done exactly what Eric had told me not to. I'd gone out by myself and I hadn't even made it to the water before these three were out to kill me. I jumped into a tree as soon as I could and scrambled up the branches, scraping my arms, face, and legs as I went. Looking back down, the three velociraptors stared up at me. It looked almost as if they were smiling. It was frightening.

"I'm gonna die up here," I mumbled to myself," Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Suddenly, the dinosaurs looked over and two gas grenades went off in their faces. I took my chance and slid down the branches. I had just reached the ground when a familiar hand grabbed my wrist tightly and pulled me along as we ran back to the truck. Diving into the truck, I slid to the floor shaking like a leaf. Eric slammed the truck door shut and threw off the leaf cape.

"Bee, why did you do that?"

I cringed. He was angry. Very, very angry. I looked up to see him glaring down at me. I tried to stand up, but my legs were like jelly. Eric pulled me up and grabbed my shoulders.

"Bee. Answer me. What the heck were you thinking? You see why I told you not to go out there alone now? Do you understand?"

I nodded my head vigorously as tears slid down my face. As I began to cry hysterically, I fell forward into Eric's chest. I heard him sigh as he held me.

"I'm sorry! Eric, I-I'm so sorry. I won't…do it again. I promise."

I was surprised as Eric lifted me up and sat on the bed so he could sit while I cried on his lap.

"As long as you understand now, it's alright."

I wiped at my tears only to gasp slightly as my hand burned. Looking down, I finally noticed the cuts on me from my wild tree climbing. The cuts stung annoyingly, but there were no severe cuts. Eric noticed my attention had been drawn to my cuts. He slowly let me slide off his lap before he got up and came over with the first aid kit and a towel he had dampened with water from a water bottle.

"No band aids of course," he told me as he cleaned out my cuts for me.

"I'm sorry."

He smiled at me.

"Hey, I was the one you used up all the band aids, remember?"

I was quiet as he cleaned up the rest of my cuts. I figured the pain was nothing compared to what could have happened if Eric hadn't come and saved me. I began to feel as if I had no useful skill and it was probably true. I wasn't good at escaping dinosaurs because I didn't think fast enough when confronted with a problem, I couldn't do anything useful, and I made my only friend and ally on this island feel very awkward with my blunt questions. I crawled under my blanket as Eric put away the first aid kit.

"I'm useless," I muttered.

Eric apparently heard me at sat down on the end of my bed.

"No you're not. Honestly, every time you run into a dinosaur you get so down on yourself."

"I have good reason to!"

Eric tugged the blanket off me and I stared over at him. He gave me the most serious look he could.

"You are _not_ useless. You keep me company, you make me laugh, and frankly, you keep this place clean. If I were here by myself, forget organization."

I continued to pout, not believing what he was saying. I heard him sigh and lean back on my bed.

"How about I ask you some questions?"

I sat up and stared at him. I could see a mischievous smirk growing on his face.

"What kind of questions?"

"Mmm…the kind that will make our conversation on males from a few days ago fair."

"You want to ask me questions about girls?"

Eric winked at me, which made me smile despite how I felt.

"You got it."

I crossed my legs as Eric crawled over to his bed and lay down. I grabbed a pillow from the pillow wall and hugged it as I watched Eric think of a question to ask. I saw his face light up as he got ideas.

"How do you sleep on your stomach with those?" he asked, pointing at my chest area.

I giggled at him.

"It doesn't hurt. I mean…when a girl first gets them, they suck. But eventually it's nothing."

He nodded and continued staring upwards as he thought of questions.

"Okay…so…"relieving frustration"," he started slowly, making me blush," for girls…I've heard they don't do it as often and less girls do that than guys…how come?"

I buried my face in my pillow and heard Eric chuckle at my behavior.

"I don't know. I…haven't…done that so…I don't actually know."

Eric looked over at me.

"Really? Cause you seem like the type of girl who would- OW! I was joking, Bee, chill!"

I'd hit him with the pillow I had been holding. We both laughed and I began hugging the pillow again. Eric rolled over onto his side so he could see me better.

"Alright, I've made you laugh enough so I'm going to move onto more serious questions. So, what kind of things have you kind of…imagined for yourself when it came to guys? Have you planned out your…type of guy, wedding, honeymoon, stuff like that?"

I thought for a moment.

"Well…all girls know the type of guy they want…most guys are a little different from the ideal guy of course. I have never really thought about my wedding…but honeymoon spots are typical. There is always Hawaii…Paris…nice places. I never really thought about what it would be like to actually be with someone since no guys really ever asked me out."

I poke the pillow a couple times, wondering to myself why no guys had ever asked me out. Eric must have read my thoughts.

"No, it isn't because you're ugly, so stop thinking that right now. We guys are typically too afraid to ask a girl out because she might laugh in our faces and sometimes it's like…not asking feels better than being rejected. And yet some guys don't like the girl asking them out…it's ridiculous."

"I would never ask a guy out. Especially if the guy was from our class back home."

Eric laughed.

"That's a good decision, actually. I gotta say my friends are horrible dating options. So…what's your type of guy anyway?"

I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes.

"Well…he'd have to be nice, funny, friendly, attractive, intelligent, positive, and he'd have to be pretty easy to get along with. I don't like guys who argue too much or have a huge ego."

Eric snorted.

"That's quite the package you've thought up."

"Like I said before, no girl gets exactly what she wants."

We were silent for a moment.

"Hey, Bee?"

"Yeah?"

"If we were back in school and you knew my like you do now…would you have liked me? Like…had a crush on me?"

I blushed and pulled the pillow till it covered my face.

"Maybe. Would you have liked me?"

I heard him hesitate before answering.

"Maybe."

A warm feeling spread through my chest and I couldn't help smiling from behind my pillow. I couldn't imagine how life would have been back in middle school with a boyfriend. It was strange to think about. All I knew was that Eric was a really nice guy and I was glad I had gotten the chance to get to know him, even if we were stuck on a dangerous island. I heard Eric sit up and slide off his bed.

"Ready for food?"

"Okay."

Author's Note: Alright. So! This is an important note for you readers to respond to. Please, please, please let me know how you feel to this question. What are you all comfortable with me writing? This story is "M" rated and I foresaw this. Its two hormonal fourteen year olds stuck on an island. No, I will not write a lemon about them, but this story has the potential for them to get rather…close. I don't want to lose any readers who really like this story so far just because I took you guys by surprise with what happened. Please let me know if you don't want them going any farther than…well…you fill in the blank (keeping in mind no sex will occur). Thank you all for reading and reviewing. I honestly love writing this story and it helps knowing that you guys love reading it. Private message me your opinions or if you'd rather review with your opinion that's good too. Thanks for reading! –S.L.


	14. Best Friend: Eric

I don't know how long we've been on this island. Bianca says we've been here over a month. So maybe five to six weeks. I can't tell. It seems like so much longer. I don't know how long I can stay positive toward the idea of us being rescued. I do know this. Bianca and I cannot survive on this island forever. We had quite a few cans of food left, but it eventually it would go away and then what would we do? Kill dinosaurs for meat? I don't think so. How in the world would that taste? I could barely believe that my parents or even Bianca's mom hadn't noticed that we've been gone for too long. Weren't they out searching for us? There was no way to know. I don't know why, but Bianca and I have been getting into more arguments. I just feel so frustrated all the time because I can't stay positive and Bianca is the queen of pessimism. Despite that though, I can't help but be drawn to her all the time. It's almost like my life gravitates toward her now. She's the only one here with me and, even if it freaks me out, she makes me laugh with her questions. I can't blame her. We're young and we're curious and we're so close now that these questions are getting less and less awkward. I can't tell if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Around this time Bianca got mad at me because I heard her scream while she was bathing during the evening before we were going to go to bed and I ran to make sure she was okay. Lucky for her, she only almost slipped on a rock. Not so lucky for me, she thought I was being a peeping tom.

"Bee, I didn't see anything! I promise! You jumped in the water faster than I could see. Honestly."

Bianca glared at me from her bed. She was curled up under her blankets as if to shield my eyes from seeing anything more of her ever.

"I never believed you were a pervert, but now I know the truth!"

I rolled my eyes with a sigh. We'd been at this for at least half an hour.

"This is coming from the girl who _forced_ me to see her in only her underwear."

"This is different!"

I threw my hands up in defeat. She wouldn't cave. She refused to believe me.

"Tell you what," I said, annoyed," I'll strip for you right now and you can get a good look at me and then you'll feel even. Good?"

Bianca's eyes widened and she shook her head vigorously. I thought not. I sighed and sat down.

"Honestly, Bianca, have I lied to you so far in all this time?"

She sat up on her bed.

"I guess not…"

"So why do you no believe me?"

She was silent for a moment. She then hung her head.

"I guess…I have no reason not to."

I grinned at her.

"So you know I didn't see anything. I promise."

"Okay."

I got up and, after pulling my shirt off, turned out the light. It was always a task to get to the bed in the dark, but I was usually pretty good at it. Usually. I tripped over something on my way back to the bed and fell right on top of Bianca, who yelped in shock and pain.

"I'm sorry. That hurt me, too," I informed her as her knee had rammed into the front of my thigh.

I was very thankful that she missed hitting something else. As I tried to get up, I accidentally grabbed something strangely soft. I knew what happened the instant Bianca shouted at me.

"Eric! You're such a jerk! You did that on purpose!"

I was flung off to the side toward my bed. I destroyed the pillow wall as I rolled.

"I can't see anything. I didn't mean to!"

"You groped me!"

"I know. Sorry."

It got rather silent after that. I couldn't possibly fix the pillow wall in the dark so I just left it demolished. As I found my blanket and tried to settle into bed, I was surprised as Bianca moved over to me and lay her head on my chest. I was glad it was dark, because my face lit up instantly.

"Bee?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"I guess."

"Why do guys get "boners" if it isn't a bone?"

I couldn't help but smile as I put an arm around her back.

"I don't actually know."

"Oh."

It was quiet. I closed my eyes to try and sleep but Bianca shook me a little.

"I'm still up, Bee…"

"What do you think of me?"

I froze at her question. I instantly began to wonder what she was trying to get at. What was she secretly asking me behind such a vague question?

"Well, you're funny, smart, and kinda shy. Why?"

"Are those good things?"

"_I_ think so."

I could feel her smile against my chest.

"Eric?"

"Yeah."

"I really like you. If we ever get home…you'll still be my friend?"

I smiled against her hair. That's what she had been worried about.

"Don't worry. I like you, too. And when we get home...I'll still be your _best_ friend."

I felt her hug me tighter as she sniffled down tears of happiness.

"You promise?"

"I promise."


	15. Giving Help: Bianca

Warning: Lime chapter. Probably at least one more to come in the future, but…we shall see.

It was the start of week six here on this island but I was beyond happy. Eric had said we were best friends. I had never had a best friend. Yet…the way I was starting to feel about him seemed to be a pretty strong feeling for a best friend. I wanted to be near him all the time. Not just in the vicinity around him, but I wanted to be right by his side, preferably touching him. I tried to think that was just how best friends were. Best friends hold hands all the time back home so it's not strange. But as I felt closer to him, it seemed as if Eric was becoming more wary of touching me. That confused me. We were best friends, right? How come he was pulling away from me and he blushed almost _all the time_ now. The pillow wall was removed since we didn't care if we bumped into each other during the night. Every morning, I would wake up cuddled up to Eric somehow. On the mornings that we woke up facing each other, Eric would either turn over quickly or get up out of bed pretty fast. And if our faces were ever too close, Eric would back away as fast as he could. I was afraid to ask him why he was so jumpy, but I didn't want to upset him and lose my first best friend ever. On one day in particular, Eric seemed to be agitated by everything. He barely smiled; he frowned at most things, and kept about a foot away from me. I ignored these strange actions through a whole day until we were setting up for bed. He had rebuilt the pillow wall and I was hurt. Eric sat down on his bed and pulled off his shirt with a heavy sigh.

"You know…if you're mad at me, you should talk to me. The pillow wall is a bit much, you know?"

Eric looked up at me and leaned his head against the side of the truck.

"It isn't that I'm mad at you. I just…I'm just feeling a little sick."

He blushed heavily again and buried himself in his bed until all I could see was his growing mop of brown hair. Turning out the light, I made it over to the beds, but crawled over to Eric. He groaned as he felt me lie down next to him.

"Eric. Talk to me. You're not being honest with me. What's wrong? What did I do? I'm sorry for whatever it is, but please tell me."

Eric shook his head.

"I can't, Bee. You just have to understand that I need my space. It's a guy thing."

He turned so that he was facing away from me. My eyebrows furrowed as I thought.

"Eric, is it that you need to mastur-"

"Eh neh neh neh."

He had turned around and covered my mouth with his hand. He pulled it away and I could feel him glaring at me through the dark.

"I told you not to use that word."

I sighed.

"Is it that you need to "release some tension"?" I asked in a monotone.

Eric scoffed and pulled his blanket up to his chin. That wasn't an answer. That meant I was right. I tackled hugged Eric who tried to pull me off.

"Bee, now you're being silly."

"You should have just said so. I don't mind if you do that."

I felt Eric go limp in my arms and start stammering.

"I-It's not something you ju-just do! Not with a g-girl in the room."

"But I read once that boys and girls mastu-"

"BLAH!"

"JACK OFF in front of one another for some sort of foreplay."

I thought Eric's brain had finally exploded. He made a sound like a deflating balloon and didn't say anything for quite a few moments.

"What kind of books do you read? You're fourteen!"

"Libraries have wide selections…especially at colleges."

Eric shook his head.

"I can't do it, Bee. I won't do it."

"Do you want me to do it?"

And that time he sounded like he choked on a hairball. When he finally got his voice back, it was an octave higher than before, which was impressive for his true voice range. His friends at school had teased him that no girls would like him since he was a "late bloomer". I couldn't help but think it was slightly amusing that he was getting more than they probably got already, a girl sleeping next to them in bed every night.

"How can you say such things so nonchalantly?"

"Well, why should you be embarrassed? Men do that and everyone knows it. It's widely accepted. Yet when people hear about women doing that it is suddenly an issue."

Eric sighed. I smiled. I had won that argument.

"Bee, I'm begging you. Stop torturing me."

"Torturing you how? Do you not want me to talk to you anymore? Or is it the proximity of my body to you that is the problem?"

Eric didn't answer. I wondered if he was angry with me for real this time. I wanted to help him, but I was afraid he'd get mad at me or, even worse, he'd hate me. I was also afraid that he would dislike what I was thinking.

"Eric…if I do something…do you promise not to hate me?"

Eric watched me in the dark for a moment.

"I can't hate you, but I may not approve…"

I found his hand in the dark and held it between both of mine. I moved so close to him that there was barely any space between us and our hands were in the middle.

"I just want to help you. It's not fair that you're stuck here with me. I'm not going to force you to torture yourself when you're used to doing something. I can tell you've put it off for a long time. Honestly, Eric, I don't mind. I just want to help."

I slipped his hand up my shirt before he could protest and pulled myself against him, my arms wrapping around his neck. I felt him go completely rigid. I was trying to tempt him into doing what he'd put off for so long. It was almost as if his brain had shut off from shock. We were only fourteen after all. And he'd never actually touched a girl. I could barely feel him even breathing.

"Please don't hate me," I whispered in his ear, almost waiting for him to push me away.

Eric's muscles slowly relaxed as his brain caught up with the situation.

"You'd go this far just to help me feel better for a little while?" Eric asked, quietly.

I nodded my head. I squeezed my eyes shut at the sensation of his hand in a place that no one had ever touched before. I knew he could feel my heart racing. I squeaked quietly as his hand moved, exploring under my shirt a little.

"You know if I do this now, I'll still have to do it later in time, right?" he told me.

"Yeah."

I blushed a little as I felt how interested he was against me since we were pressed so close together. I gasped quietly as his thumb ran over a very sensitive area, making him slide a hand down low between us.

"You know, best's friends don't do things like this."

Eric's voice got somewhat deeper, despite the fact that he hadn't reached the point where his voice changed in puberty.

"Mmhm."

I didn't understand how it felt so nice just to have him touching me. He didn't do much except repeat the same motions, yet he was so gentle my heart somehow melted. I heard him quietly murmur something.

"What?" I asked, softly.

"Bee…"

He'd moaned my name so quietly I barely heard it. I felt my chest heat up with a strange feeling. It was warm and comfortable.

"Bee, please kiss me."

I was surprised to hear him ask me that, but I knew I wanted to. He made me gasp again as his hand tightened slightly, put it wasn't from pain. I put a hand to his face and felt for his lips. When I found them, I pressed mine against his. He moaned contentedly right before he let out a gasp of his own. His hand slipped out of my shirt and moved to the back of my head as he continued to kiss me. His hand slipped down to my shoulder before he pulled away.

"I'm sorry," he told me, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

"Please don't be."

We both laughed quietly. Eric pulled me close to him again, kissing my cheek as he did.

"Thank you."

"No problem. Uhm, are you going to sleep like that?" I asked, curiously.

I heard him chuckle.

"It won't be a problem if I do."

I fell asleep easily in his arms, feeling a indefinable happiness between Eric and myself.


	16. Romantic Kisses: Eric

Man, I suck. That kiss was so unromantic it wasn't even funny. I loved it, really. And Bianca hadn't complained or anything, but I had sworn that I would do everything I could to make a girl's first kiss romantic if it was going to be with me. Ours was memorable, sure, but I was totally taking care of myself at the time while Bianca was there being nice enough to give me help. It was morning now and I watched her sleep, wondering if she was going to be upset with me about the kiss. I wondered if I should somehow be helping _her_ out, but that seemed silly since she wouldn't know if she wanted it. She'd never even thought much about it before being stuck here with me. That made me feel kinda bad. I stared down at her and couldn't help thinking about last night. I groaned as I got excited from the memory. I hadn't been able to see anything, but the feelings lingered. I knew for me it was more than a simple crush. Every guy I knew back home had a crush on Bianca, I included, but I never expected we'd get so close. As I watched her sleep beside me, her light breaths lifting up a loose strand of hair that had fallen in her face, I knew I had to be in love. I wasn't going to tell her though. She barely understood her feelings, I could tell. The line between best friend and more was broken last night, so I figured she had feelings for me, but I was afraid she'd get upset if I asked her if she loved me and she didn't know the answer. Maybe I was being a bit presumptuous by assuming how she felt about me, but I didn't want to push her too far too fast. I mean, if we got off the island, there was a chance she'd remember there were better looking guys out there and forget me. At most I'd tell her I liked her. That's it. Nothing more. Bianca began to wake up and I made room for her as she stretched. I smiled as she opened her eyes and looked at me.

"Hey."

She smiled back.

"Hi."

I sighed. Just looking in her eyes, I knew I couldn't hide it. If she ever noticed that I loved her…I'd tell her.

"So, did last night really happen?" she asked me as she slid close to me and placed her head under my chin.

"Yeah."

"Good. I was afraid it didn't happen."

"Which part?"

"All of it."

I laughed and held her close to me.

"I have to admit, I was stunned. You yelled at me for almost seeing you without clothes and then you have me get touchy with you. You can really confuse a guy."

Bianca squeezed me, making me laugh.

"I'm a girl. I worry about how I look to people. For girls, that kind of thing is more nerve wrecking than trying to dress up nice to impress the guy you like. The guy gets to look at you as you are. Your body can't be changed without like…plastic surgery. You can't hide anything."

I thought for a moment, trying to sort out my words so they didn't come out wrong.

"I think that you should only let a guy see you if you feel completely comfortable with him and you're almost one hundred percent you're in love with him and he loves you back. Also, any guy who loves you enough will think you're beautiful no matter what."

Bianca looked up at me.

"That was…really sweet, Eric."

I blushed, desperately wanting to lean down and kiss her again.

"I have my moments. Uhm, speaking of sweet…and moments…about last night, I'm sorry that your first kiss was like that. I'd always hoped that when I actually plucked up the courage to kiss a girl I would have made it more…romantic. That was…pretty physical."

She shrugged, surprisingly.

"I don't mind. Honestly, I'm just glad it was with you. Years from now, I don't think I'll ever regret our first kiss. Especially not when we're stuck on an island where we could die at any time. Besides, I don't know how you'd be romantic."

Sitting up, Bianca stretched and let her arms flop back to her side. I sat up as well, a small smile on my face.

"Do you want me to show you?"

She blushed, but nodded her head that I could try. I slid closer to her and put a hand on her cheek, stroking it softly with my thumb. Yeah, I was pretty much going off all those mushy chick movies.

"I'm glad the two of us got to go on this trip. I'd always wanted to talk to you back home, but I just couldn't get up the nerve. I figured my friends were more your type, but…you don't know how much it means every time you tell me you prefer me to anyone else in the world. I never dreamed anything like this would happen. I love getting to know you better. Every moment of every day, I love seeing you're sparkling eyes, your sweet smile, your soft brown hair. You're so beautiful all the time, even when you don't think so."

I couldn't help feeling drawn to her lips. They were perfect. The light pink and the lovely curve they made pulled me to her. My lips brushed hers.

"How was that?" I asked her, using my self-control to keep me from attacking her mouth.

"Wow," she breathed, making me grin.

"Is it alright if I kiss you now?" I asked, almost pleading.

"Uh-huh."

I gently pressed my lips against hers. Her lips melted against mine. I was completely aware of her touch as her hands pressed against my chest. They were cooler than my body, but it felt good. Bianca pulled back and smiled.

"I thought that fourteen year olds weren't supposed to be good at romance. How did you come up with all that?"

"I was just being honest."

I was surprised as she got onto my crossed legs and straddled my waist. She was biting her lip as she looked me in the eyes.

"Will you still be honest if I ask you a question?"

I smiled.

"You and your questions…Yes. I'll be honest with you."

She hesitated, wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

"What do you…how, uhm…How far are you willing to go with me? You know…other than sex, of course."

I examined her face for a moment. She wasn't looking me in the eyes, which made me chuckle.

"So there _are_ questions that embarrass you."

She buried her face in my shoulder.

"Don't be mean to me!"

I put a hand on the back of her head and stroked her hair.

"Whatever you want from me, I'll do it."

She looked back up at me.

"Eric, do you like me?"

I frowned.

"Of course I like you."

"No, I mean…as more than just a best friend."

I laughed and leaned my forehead against hers.

"Guess," I told her before leaning in and kissing her once again.

I was never going to get tired of this. It was a strange turn on to have her straddling my waist. Something that I hoped I would be the only one to know was that Bianca was pretty aggressive. I let her push me onto my back as her tongue snuck into my mouth. It felt weird at first, to kiss someone with your tongue in their mouth and sometimes theirs in yours, but I soon understood the intimacy behind it. I felt my hands creeping their way to the edge of her shirt, but I willed them to stay down. Pulling away to breath, I rolled Bianca onto her back. She looked up at me. Her eyes were so soft as she looked at me that my heart skipped a beat. Maybe, just maybe..she felt the same way I did.

"Eric, I-"

We jumped as we suddenly heard the call of a velociraptor too close to the truck for comfort.


	17. Loving You: Bianca

Warning: Mature material in this chapter.

I watched as Eric slowly moved off the bed and over to the door. I quietly followed him. I grabbed his arm as he went to open it.

"Eric, don't. What if they see you? We'll never get to leave! They might attack the door till it gives! If either one of those things happens we're going to die for sure."

He put a hand on my hair to quiet me.

"Hopefully they aren't. Bee, you need to stay here and be as quiet as possible. I don't want you to leave this truck until I come back for you."

"What are you going to do?"

Eric hesitated, obviously not wanting to tell me. I dug my nails into his arm with fear.

"I'm going to lead them away from here. Don't give me that look, I'll be fine. Do not leave this truck."

I didn't like this plan. I didn't like this plan at all. I wouldn't let go of his arm, until he pried me off. Tears began to fall from my eyes at the thought of him getting hurt or killed. He pulled me into his arms.

"Bee, there isn't enough time. I'll be back. Trust me."

He tilted my tear stained face up and kissed me. Neither of us wanted to pull away, but I let him cautiously open the door and slip out. After it closed quietly, I heard the sound of his boots running off into the forest. I went back to the beds and lay back to stay quiet. I waited and waited and waited. Just waiting felt terrible. Without a watch, I couldn't check how much time passed as I lay there. I could have been an hour and it would have felt like a day. At some point, I could have sworn I heard a huge crashing sound as if the finned dinosaur had been back, but it was farther than from the truck than it normally was. After I felt I'd waited too long and the worry for Eric's safety reached its peak, I grabbed my backpack, stuffing a few smoke grenades in with the clothes and soap we kept in there for bathing. I opened the door and found the area deserted. After closing the door again, I snuck off into the closely knit trees. I didn't know where Eric was, but I followed the usual path to the water. When I got there, I found Eric resting against a tree, breathing hard. I ran over to him. I was about to tackle him in a hug when he held his hands out to stop me.

"You don't want to do that. I'm covered in T-Rex pee."

I crinkled my nose at him.

"That's gross."

Now that I looked at him properly, he _was_ wet. He took off his shoes and put them in the shallow part of the water so they could get cleaner. Though, the clothes he had been wearing were now too torn up for him to really keep using. I courteously turned around as he took off his clothes, put them in the shallow water, and then got into the water himself.

"You can look now, Bee," he told me.

I turned and could see his mop of brown hair was dripping with nice, clean water as he hid the rest of himself in the water. I sat down nearby and took his clothes and the soap out for him to use.

"So…are you going to tell me what happened?" I asked.

He looked over at me.

"Yeah, but first…you did it again."

I looked down at my hands.

"I know, but…I-I was worried about you."

He laughed quietly and shook his head.

"If you weren't my favorite person ever…"

I smiled as he grabbed some soap and soaped up his hair. He went into the water and let the suds run off. I stared at him in shock.

"_That's _how you wash your hair?"

Eric looked over at me in confusion.

"What? I soap it and then rinse. Done."

My eye twitched.

"That's it, I'm going to help your poor, crying scalp."

Eric's face went red as I made my way over.

"H-Hey! I'm naked."

"Then cover what you don't want me to see," I sighed, slipping off my pants and then my shirt. I slid into the water at the point where, if I sat down, the water only reached the top of my hips. I grabbed Eric and pulled him in front of me and scrubbed soap into his hair really well. He cringed, but didn't complain.

"Don't want to smell like pee, do you?"

"Definitely not. Or else we'd-well, I'll tell you what happened then. See, the velociraptors hadn't reached the truck yet, so I made enough noise to lead them a decent way away from the truck. But, luckily, yet unluckily, I fell into fresh T-Rex pee. The velociraptors ran off so I tried to come back. I was almost here when I ran into the Spinosaurus. It tried to get me, but I dashed into a stretch of trees way too tight for it to get to me. I then made a beeline for here and that's when you found me."

I pushed him down into the water, cleaning out the soap from his hair and then let him back up to soap his hair again. I giggled at Eric who had almost lost his balance when I pushed him in the water. He had his hands covering himself and he wasn't about to move them even to stay upright.

"Well, I don't envy you, but I'm so glad you're alive."

"You know? Me, too."

I giggled at him. After finishing with his hair, I let him finish his bath and I let myself dry off a little. It was so hot out that day that I didn't mind having on wet underwear. I just traded my pants for the skirt in my bag and put my shirt back on over it. We then made our way back to the truck. At the edge of the clearing, we were dismayed to see a _Ceratosaurus _hanging around. The two of them climbed up into a tree to try and wait out the dinosaurs stay. Eric leaned against the tree trunk, his legs on either side of the branch. I sat in front of him, leaning back on his chest. As I looked down at the carnivorous dinosaur, I felt Eric hug my waist.

"You were going to say something earlier," he whispered in my ear.

I felt a shiver go down my spine from his warm breath on my neck. I blushed as Eric kissed the back of my neck. It made butterflies erupt in my stomach, but I liked it. I was glad that the dinosaur suddenly got bored and traipsed off into the trees on the opposite side from where we were. We quickly and quietly made our way back into our small home. Once my backpack was off and we'd toss aside our shoes, Eric pulled me over to the beds.

"So, what was it?"

"I, uhm, a…I don't remember."

We were sitting the way we had in the tree and Eric was distracting my brain with those gentle kissed to the back of my neck. I felt his hands twitching as they lay on my stomach. It made me smile slightly.

"How do I make you remember?"

His hand traced around the waist of my skirt. I whimpered as he teasingly went lower, going under my skirt.

"Are you nervous?" he joked.

I shook my head vigorously. I looked back at him to see him somewhat surprised.

"Really? But the sound you just-"

"I want you to…if you want to…It's okay if you don't."

Eric didn't say anything at first, but let his hand slip down into my still damp underwear. I could feel his breathing getting a little heavier. His brain had probably gone farther than his hand was. I could feel his anticipation against me. He suddenly bit my ear affectionately.

"You know what? You're always calling the shots? No."

Eric's other hand grabbed my wrist. Carefully bringing my hand back, he stuck my hand in his pants. My face got warm as he placed himself in my hand. I heard his breath catch as he did.

"Do you remember yet?"

His hand slipped lower and I gasped. The feeling was so new to me. My body trembled uncontrollable from his touch, but it felt so good. I nodded, letting my hand grip him. I bit my lip as he began to stroke me gently.

"I…Eric, I…"

I slid my hand up and down on him.

"Please say it," he asked, his right arm tightening around my waist.

"Eric, I…love you."

I was pretty stupid as far as logic and reality were concerned, but I knew I loved Eric. I'd had crushes on boys before. Well…only a couple times, but there was something much deeper with Eric. I thought it was deep due to the fact that he was nice and talked to me and I thought best friends felt like that. But after wanting him to kiss me and touch me, I knew it was more than that. And I wanted him to know. I'd be sad if he rejected me, but I took the chance as I felt he might just feel the same. Besides, he and I shared so many things already. More than what most people our age would share. I felt Eric rest his head on my shoulder.

"I love you, too, Bianca. I really do."

I turned to him and he lifted his head so he could kiss me. He began to put more pressure and I had to break the kiss as I let a soft moan escape my lips. I'd read before, that when a person tries new sexual things or do sexual things alone, they tend to orgasm faster. The more you did it, the longer it took, and as Eric picked up a little speed, I felt a warm sensation in my pelvic area. It was an indescribably good feeling, especially as my heart was happy to hear that I was loved back. I whimpered as the feeling came in waves that got faster until something in me just couldn't take it anymore.

"Eric!"

"Bee."

He slowly slid his hand out from my underwear and kissed my neck as I shook and tried to catch my breath. I felt warm liquid on my hand as I pulled my hand out of his boxers. Eric blushed as I examined the white substance on my hand. He grabbed a few tissues in the only tissue box we had and wiped my hand for me and wiped his own. After tossing them in our trash corner, he pulled me into his arms and we lay down on the bed, trying to breathe.

"Are you okay, Bee?" he asked, kissing my forehead.

I nodded and held onto him.

"That felt…amazing. I don't know how to describe it."

Eric smiled, feeling rather good about himself. I looked up at him.

"Did I do okay?"

He smiled down at me.

"Clearly. I made a mess on your hand. Sorry about that. Two days in a row for me…wow."

The two of us lay in each other's arms, enjoying each other's company. I wondered what we might do in the future and if some things like this would get harder as the two of us got more used to it. Eric kissed me, happily.

"You love me," he whispered, hugging me tight," I wasn't sure what to do when I knew you loved me."

I smiled and closed my eyes.

"Just remember, I said it first."


	18. One More: Eric

I don't know how long the two of us were "together" on the island, but I know it was some of the best times in my life. Sure, we were inseparable before due to the circumstances. Yet, with a deeper and honest relationship, I'll never forget it. I felt like I didn't deserve it, but I was so happy she liked me. I had to admit that I was a little bit worried about what would happen when we got home. We'd gotten so close and we were used to being together. I don't know how I ever got to sleep before she was there to hold on to. And what if we grew apart? It could prove difficult to find someone who would hear all the things we'd done on the island and still stick around. I tried to put those thoughts out of my mind and enjoy my days with her whether they accumulated into months or even years. On one particular day, I was looking around the island when I came upon a scene I did not expect. There was a man being surrounded by a group of velociraptors. There was someone on the island! I had to help him. I tossed a few gas grenades into the area and the dinosaurs backed away. I ran through, grabbed the man's wrist, and we ran. We didn't look back as I led him to the truck. I leaped into the truck and the man followed me. I heard Bianca shout in surprise at seeing a new person. He coughed from the smoke in the grenade as I climbed into the truck and looked around to make sure we hadn't been followed.

"Hello, Bianca. Thanks. Thanks a lot, Eric."

I crouched down in the truck and looked at the man I'd saved.

"You know who we are?" I asked, sitting down.

Bianca went over to me and stayed close to me. I'd forgotten how shy she was around people she didn't know. I put an arm around her shoulders, trying to let her know it was okay. The man looked at me specifically.

"Your parents are here. They're looking for you."

I stared at him. They had been looking for us. But…my parents…together?

"Together?"

"Together."

The man took off his backpack and sighed.

"That's not good," I told him, shaking my head," They don't do so well together."

"Well you'd be surprised what people can do when they have to."

"My mom didn't come did she?"

"No, there wasn't enough room."

I saw Bianca sigh with relief. She had told me that if I thought she was bad at surviving on an island, her mom was ten times worse. I love Bianca to death but…that would be a horrible nightmare. She noticed the light dimming and switched it out for a newer one. As she sat back down, she seemed to recognize the guy. She leaned forward a little bit.

"You're Alan Grant."

He nodded.

"What're you doing here?" I asked, surprised.

He seemed to struggle with what he wanted to say.

"Your parents, uh, invited me along."

He kept coughing so Bianca got up and got him a water bottle.

"Hungry?" she asked, pulling out one of the cans of beans we still had.

"Why, yes, thank you. I'm amazed by the two of you. We didn't expect either of you to be alive."

She handed him the food and water and went back to sit with me. She smiled up at me.

"It's thanks to Eric. He may not look it, but he's a survival guy."

I poked her side, teasingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I whispered in her ear.

I caught Dr. Grant smirk at us knowingly. I blushed slightly. The three of us ate together. It was pretty quiet in the truck, but we started talking again once we were all almost finished. I grabbed a Crunch bar we'd gotten from the vending machines and I split it with Bianca.

"We've read both of your books," I told him, munching on my chocolate," I like the first one more. Before you were on the island. You liked dinosaurs back then."

Dr. Grant looked over at Bianca.

"You feel that way, too?" he asked her.

She nodded, shyly. He shrugged.

"Well back then they hadn't tried to eat me yet."

He finished with his can of food and put it aside. He looked around. I understood the look on his face.

"When InGen cleared up they left a lot of stuff behind."

"Any weapons?"

"No. And I just used the last of the gas grenades."

"And I appreciate that."

Bianca smiled.

"Velociraptors?" she asked me.

I nodded. Dr. Grant looked among our shelves before picking up the vial of fluid we kept on the bottom shelf.

"Be careful with that," I warned," T-Rex. It scares some of the smaller ones away, but attracts one really big one with a fin."

He looked at me strangely.

"This is…T-Rex _pee_? How'd you get it?"

"You don't wanna know."

He slowly put it back with a shake of his head. I pulled out another candy bar.

"Dessert?"

"Sure."

I tossed it to him. I moved closer to Bianca, suddenly wanting her to be closer to me. She gave a small grin and leaned on me.

"Eric, Bianca, I have to tell you that I'm astonished that you've lasted eight weeks on this island."

Bianca didn't seem surprised, but I looked over at him.

"Is that all its been?"

"Well, you both are alive and that's the important thing. Thanks to you that is one thing we have in common."

He hesitated for a moment before looking back up at us.

"Did you read…Malcolm's book?"

Bianca nodded.

"Yeah," she said.

"So…?"

The two of us shared a smile. We'd talked about Malcolm's book while we'd been here. I looked back at Dr. Grant.

"I-I don't know. I mean, it was kind of preachy. And-and too much chaos. Everything's chaos."

"It seems like the guy was kinda high on himself," Bianca added.

I saw Dr. Grant smirking.

"Well, that's two things we have in common."

The three of us laughed quietly. I suddenly heard squeaking from outside.

"Listen. Compys."

I jumped up and went to the door. I shut it quickly so that the little dinosaurs couldn't get to us. I moved back to Bianca. We spent a lot of time talking to Dr. Grant. He was actually a pretty cool guy. He seemed to really like me and Bianca. When it got late, he said he'd be fine sleeping on the chair. He didn't seem bothered by Bianca and me sharing a bed. He appeared to understand that being on the island brought us extremely close. In the morning, we knew we would be heading out to find my parents and Dr. Grant's protégé, Billy. We were going home after so long here. I was happy, but I was also a little sad. I knew once we got off the island, Bianca and I would have less time together and more chances to mess up the relationship we had created. But we had to go home. I swore that I would get her home and I would do that. I was going to protect her. It was a promise.


	19. Island Adventures: Bianca

In the morning, we headed out with Dr. Grant to find the others. It was quite a bit of walking as we scaled the cliffs around the river going through island. At one point, we spotted a boat down below and Dr. Grant suggested that we head there to use the boat. Using that, we'd get to the coast as he'd told the others to do before they got separated. My mind was pretty preoccupied as we traveled. Eric and Dr. Grant spent a lot of their time talking. I just followed behind. I couldn't help being so nervous out in the jungle. We'd spent eight weeks in a truck and very little time was spent going outside. I was happy at the thought of being able to go home, but I was also afraid of what it might take to get there. And from what Dr. Grant told us, only my mother knew we were out here and she had no idea that the plane had been ripped to shreds. While we were walking at one point, Eric stopped and listened. A very faint jingle could be heard from nearby.

"That's my dad's satellite phone!"

Dr. Grant and I looked at each other as Eric took off through the brush. We followed after him, somewhat skeptically, but it was something to go on. As we dashed after him, Eric loudly sang the jingle before calling out for his parents. I kept looking around, hoping nothing would hear us and come looking for a snack. I caught Dr. Grant doing the same. Eventually, Eric led us to an open field with a huge broken fence running through the middle of it. We were shocked as three people came running from the trees on the other side. It had to be Eric's parents and Billy. Reaching the fence, they family did their best to hug each other through the fence. I couldn't help feeling a strong sadness for my mom as I watched them. Would I get to see her again? Dr. Grant put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me toward the fence as he grabbed Billy's hand and shook it with a smile.

"Boy am I glad to see you. You must be Bianca. I'm Billy."

I smiled at him as his eyes landed on the bag around Dr. Grant's shoulder.

"Hey, you've got my bag."

"Yeah, lucky strap."

I didn't understand that one, but I just looked around. I had a bad feeling all of a sudden as the other continued to talk. Dr. Grant was trying to look around and find a way to get over the fence. The top was covered in spikes, so climbing wasn't an option. I turned as the Kirby's started talking about the satellite phone. Apparently it had been leant to someone who ended up being killed. The jingle suddenly sounded from really close by. We turned around and on our side of the fence was our least favorite friend the Spinosaurus.

"Run," Dr. Grant whispered.

We all instantly took off following the edge of the fence and the dinosaur came after us. It had a great advantage by being huge. It was about to catch us when I spotted a hole in the fence. I grabbed Eric and pulled him through it with me to the other side, Dr. Grant dashing in just as the dinosaur tried to grab him. Only half of its face fit through the hole. It backed away from the fence as the group of us clustered together watching it. As it seemed to give up, the Kirby's began hugging again as the rest of us tried to catch our breath. This was all short lived as the Spinosaurs crashed through the fence. We ran again, heading toward the only shelter in sight. We threw ourselves into the silver building as the men slammed the door shut and locked it with the heavy duty deadbolts. The dinosaur did its best to hit in the door, but the door was luckily strong enough to hold. I followed Dr. Grant and Billy as the Kirby's began their hugfest again. I sat on a step to a metal, spiral staircase as Dr. Grant moved to look out the window. I did my best not to listen in on Dr. Grant and Billy's conversation was I watched the Kirby's, but I was distracted as I heard Billy talking.

"I swear, if I'd known you were going to end up with them…I took 'em on an impulse. I thought they'd be worth a fortune enough to fund the dig site another ten more years. Look, you have to believe me, this was a stupid decision, but I did it with the best intentions-"

Dr. Grant did not look amused at all. Looking around Billy, I saw that raptor eggs were sitting in the open back. I got up to go over to them, but I was suddenly attacked by Mrs. Kirby in a hug. I was so surprised that I yelped as the air began leaving my lungs.

"Mrs. Kirby!"

"I'm so glad you're safe, too! You took care of Eric. Thank you."

I took a deep breath as she let me go. Eric was grinning from behind her. I blushed slightly, thinking it was best she didn't know all that went on as far as I was "taking care" of her son.

"He honestly took better care of me," I told her with a smile.

We turned to see Dr. Grant about to toss the bag of eggs out of the broken window. He then stopped and pulled them back in. He took off his backpack and put the bag with the eggs inside of it. Mr. Kirby went over to Dr. Grant.

"What are you doing? Those things are after us because of those!"

"Those things _know_ we have the eggs. I drop them in the river; they'd still be after us."

"What if they catch us with them?"

"What if they catch us without them?"

I shivered at the thought as Eric took my hand. We all followed Dr. Grant down the stairs.

"There's a boat at the bottom, just down river. Should bring us to the coast at least."

Walking down brought us to a strange looking area full of wire fencing. It was extremely foggy and the place looked more than ready to fall apart more than it already had. We followed Dr. Grant who tried to keep going down but he eventually reached a step that gave out. Luckily, Mr. Kirby pulled him back to safety. He whistled as we heard the metal crash down at the bottom after a long drop.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Dr. Grant answered, warily.

Going back a little ways, he came to a metal bridge. Shaking it a little, he found it wasn't very sturdy.

"Let's do this one at a time, shall we?" he said, going first," Bianca, I want to follow me, okay?"

"Okay."

He walked out until the fog completely took him out of our view. We waited for him to say if I could follow. After about a minute and a half, we heard him call out.

"Okay, come on over! One at a time!"

I gulped slightly as I started to walk out.

"Wait."

I turned back as Eric had grabbed my shoulder. I looked at him curiously.

"What?"

He looked back at his parents before looking back at me.

"Be careful."

He took my face in his hands and kissed me. My eyes were wide as he pulled back. Both of our faces were on fire and we could hear his mother giggling from behind him. I nodded and turned to continue walking. When I reached the other side, I called out. Mrs. Kirby followed. Dr. Grant and I looked around the other side, trying to figure out where we were. We heard Mrs. Kirby call for Eric to go over next. Dr. Grant picked up some strange white stuff sitting on a railing. I wrinkled my nose as he sniffed it. He looked back at me in alarm. I got worried.

"What is it?"

He ran back to Mrs. Kirby and I followed. As he looked up, we did the same. Above us was a dome shaped cover. A sinking feeling began to settle in my chest.

"Oh my God," I whined.

"What is it?" Mrs. Kirby asked.

"It's a birdcage," Dr. Grant answered.

"For what?"

We suddenly heard Eric scream. We all ran out to the middle of the bridge just as a huge flying creature grabbed his shoulders and took off. We all followed by running up any sets of stairs we could, trying to get closer to where the pterodactyl was taking him. At one point, Dr. Grant and I saw Billy stop and look back at Dr. Grant. He clipped the backpack he was wear and jumped onto a railing. Dr. Grant and I shouted for him to stop, but he jumped and pulled out a parachute, the same one that Ben, Eric, and I used before getting stuck on the island. Dr. Grant and I kept running after the Kirby's until we reached a dead end drop. A pterodactyl landed in front of us so we ran back where we came. It flew around the edge, trying to get to us. It wound up landing on top of the walkway. It broke the roof and fell down in front of us. Dr. Grant pushed us all behind him and kept pushing us away from the advancing dinosaur. He tried kicking it on its bill but it just got angrier. We were back to the dead end with nowhere to go as the dinosaur came closer. Suddenly the walkway gave out and we screamed as we plummeted into the cold river water. The pterodactyl followed our example, but luckily the walkway came down on it, dragging it under the water. We swam for the shore in hopes of finding where Eric and Billy had gotten to.


	20. Sailing and Crap: Eric

After a splash landing into the water after the pterodactyls ripped holes in Billy's parasail, I swam to the shore as fast as I could. When I looked up to find Billy, fear took over me. The parasail had caught on the cliffs and Billy was dangling high above the water, the dinosaurs circling their target. Billy struggled to pull free, but the sail was stuck.

"ERIC!"

I turned to see my mom and Bianca shouting as they ran with my dad and Dr. Grant. I pointed and shouted so they would see Billy.

"There he is! He's across the river."

My mom and Bianca reached me before they turned to see Billy. Dr. Grant and my dad turned to try and help Billy.

"Get the kids out of here," my dad shouted.

My mom ushered the two of us toward the gate that was nearby with effort. Bianca and I wanted to help Billy, but she pushed us away. When we reached the gate, it took all three of us to push down the rusted lock to the door. Getting through the first one, we reached the second one and we were free of the cage. Bianca and I stopped running not too far away and turned back to see my mom shutting the door. My dad and Dr. Grant had swum under the cage using the river. Seeing that they were safe, the three of us in the front got to the boat that Dr. Grant had seen from the top of the cliffs. Looking back, Billy apparently hadn't made it. Dr. Grant and my mom grabbed two larges sticks and used them to row us through the water. We wanted to get away as soon as possible, so we waited to start the engine at the right time if it would actually work. When we'd gotten a good way down the river, my dad used his belt to start up the engine, even though it was really low on gasoline. Bianca and I had decided to leave Dr. Grant alone for a little bit as he had just lost his friend. After the engine was started, though, I took Bianca's hand and we went to see Dr. Grant who was standing at the front.

"Dr. Grant?" I asked, cautiously.

He turned and looked at us. He gave us a small smile.

"Hey, Eric. Bianca. How are you two doing?"

He sat down with a sigh as the two of us went and sat down in front of him.

"We're sorry about Billy."

Dr. Grant looked so sad. I didn't blame him.

"You know what the last thing I said to him was? I said," You're as bad as the people who built this place", which wasn't true. Billy was just…young, that's all. I have a theory that there are two kinds of boys, those that wanna be astronomers and those who want to be astronauts. The astronomer, the paleontologist, gets to…gets to study these amazing things from a place of complete safety."

Bianca shifted beside me.

"But then you never get to into space."

"Exactly. It's the difference between imagining and seeing, being able to touch them. And that…that's all Billy wanted."

We were all quiet for a moment. I squinted suddenly as the sun reached my face. We'd been passing under trees that kept out the fading sunlight, but the trees were lifted here. Looking over to the left side of the boat, I tapped Bianca's shoulder. She looked over and stood up as I got Dr. Grant's attention. We stood up like Bianca and took in the sight before us. Out in a beautiful, green field were stegosaurus and brachiosaurus herds. We could hear them all calling out to each other and just grazing peacefully. I smiled as Bianca took my hand and squeezed it. She and I hadn't been around many of the herbivores and seeing this sight reminded us about why we'd liked reading about dinosaurs so much in the first place. One brachiosaurus spotted us and followed us down the river with its long neck.

"You know something, Dr. Grant? Billy was right."

Bianca smiled and leaned her head back on my shoulder in agreement. A few more hours of just sailing along brought the night. Me and Bianca were sitting in the boats cage with my mom when we heard the jingle of my dad's cell phone again. We waited in fear, thinking that we were going to have to run away from the spinosaurus again, but as we reached the area the sound was coming from, there were huge, smelly piles of dinosaur excrement. Bianca scrunched up her nose and buried her face in my chest.

"Gross," she muttered.

Dr. Grant jumped out of the boat.

"Find it before it stops ringing."

My parents jumped off the boat, my mom telling us to stay on the boat. Neither I nor Bianca was sad about that fact. The two of us cringed as each of them stuck their hands into piles of the stuff. Dr. Grant found a watch, my dad a bone, and my mom a pair of sunglasses before my mom pulled the cell phone out on her second try. Dr. Grant took it from her and answered the phone to hear an ad for the area we'd been staying at in Costa Rica. I looked up and noticed another dinosaur had arrived on the scene.

"Look out!" I shouted to them as the ceratosaurus stopped and stared at them.

They all froze as it leaned down and sniffed them. It pulled back in revulsion and left the area. Briana couldn't help but giggle at the sight. After the adults had cleaned up, we continued down the river. Sadly, it began to rain as we went on our way.


	21. Heading Home: Bianca

The rain just made everything worse. We didn't know how to get off the island, we could be attacked at anytime, and the rain just made all bad things seem possible. The cell phone apparently only had enough power left for one call. We were all soaked to the bone as we sailed along on the boat that would hopefully take us to the coast. I was sitting in the cage on the boat with Mrs. Kirby when Eric shouted for everybody to look at something off the side of the boat. Looking down into the water, we all saw schools of fish moving away very quickly, aiming in the direction that we were going but moving much faster than our boat could.

"Something must've spooked them," Eric said.

I moved away from the edge of the boat. Maybe I was just always paranoid or Eric had been correct when he'd told me once that I was generally a pessimist, but I did not have a good feeling about the fish taking off like that.

"Get the engine going, Mr. Kirby," Dr. Grant suggested, possibly feeling the way I did.

We all moved around to the steering wheel area. Eric and I watched Mrs. Kirby hold onto the wheel while Dr. Grant tried to make a call. Mr. Kirby used his belt again to try and start the engine. While Dr. Grant was trying to get a kid named Charlie to take the phone to "Mommy", something made the boat jerk horribly. We all hit the deck from the movement. The phone dropped out of Dr. Grant's hand as the spinosaurus came out of the river with a loud roar.

"Why won't that thing leave us alone?" I screamed, dashing around to the part of the boat where the cage was.

We all crowded together in the cage as Dr. Grant closed the door to the cage, hoping the dinosaur couldn't reach in and get us. It destroyed the steering wheel area in its attempt to get to us. I clutched onto Eric, tears running down my face. I did not want to die by being eaten. We all had to hold onto the cage as it started sliding. The spinosaurus was working on sinking the boat and the cage was not fastened down to the boat. The boat was crushed and the engine's fuel was leaking out into the water. The dinosaur tried a new tactic and began pulling us to it with its claws. Dr. Grant tried to find a weapon in the box inside the cage, but the only thing worth using was a flare and that wouldn't help us right now. Suddenly, the satellite phone began to ring.

"Where's the phone?" Dr. Grant shouted.

We all looked around until we spotted it sliding up and down the boat as the dinosaur tried to get to us. We all stuck our hands out to grab it but it slid away. The boat tilted again and the phone came back. Dr. Grant grabbed the phone just as the cage was knocked into the water. We began sinking fast and Dr. Grant tried to shout to the person on the phone that we needed help. We sank below the water and we were stuck. We tried tugging at the bars, but they weren't rusted enough to give in. We were spun around multiple times as the dinosaur tried to reach us. We needed air, and we needed it fast. On one spin, the door to the cage opened. Mr. Kirby and I slipped out in that moment and swam for the shore. When we looked back, the cage had been turned over to a shallow point where the other's had some air, but the spinosaurus was still after them. Mr. Kirby turned and noticed a crane behind him. He looked at me.

"Go and hide. I'll take care of this."

"Mr. Kirby!"

I couldn't stop him as he swam toward the crane so I did what he said and dashed off into the bushes beside the river and watched in horror as the dinosaur tried to fish them out with its claws. Mr. Kirby started screaming for the dinosaur's attention when he reached the top of the crane. It worked and it headed toward him. The others began climbing out of the cage. I jumped out of the bushes and waved my hands at the others to come over to me. Eric saw me and him and his mom made their way over and Dr. Grant dived back into the water. Looking back, Mr. Kirby was still in a tough situation with the dinosaur's attention. Dr. Grant suddenly appeared and shot the flare at the dinosaur. It roared and turned as the flare hit it. But when the flare hit the water, the surface suddenly erupted in flames.

"The gasoline!" I shouted.

Dr. Grant swam for the shore as the dinosaur began panicking by being in the middle of the fire. It ended up hitting the crane and knocking the crane and Mr. Kirby to the side. He fell into the fiery water. Mrs. Kirby and Eric began screaming and Eric tried to go over there, but we held him back. They kept shouting as I backed over next to Dr. Grant while the dinosaur ran away, obviously irritated now. Mrs. Kirby was almost hysterical.

"Paul! You jerk! You can't leave me like this!"

"I'm not going anywhere."

We all turned and were stunned to see he had gotten to the shore safely. His family attacked him in a hug and all Dr. Grant and I could do was smile. After awhile, we went off into the trees to find a place to sleep. In the morning, Dr. Grant and I went scouting around as the family had some personal time. I followed Dr. Grant, still somewhat tired from the past night's events.

"I hate it here. I want to go home."

Dr. Grant grinned at me over his shoulder.

"It just goes to show that humans aren't meant to live with dinosaurs."

I nodded.

"Not that I wanted to be here in the first place. I was pushed into it. The only good thing that came out of it was that Eric and I became friends."

"Just friends?"

His tone was amused as he said that. I sighed.

"Hey, I'm waiting for him to officially ask me out!"

"I still do not understand kids…"

We headed back to the others so that we could start on our way again. We'd been walking for about an hour when we finally could hear the sound of the ocean. Eric and I sprinted off in excitement. The others followed but we'd only gone a few yards when we were confronted by a group of velociraptors. We all stopped and grouped together. They had us completely surrounded.

"They want the eggs," Dr. Grant whispered, "Otherwise we'd be dead already. Everybody get down. She's challenging us."

We all knelt to the ground, keeping our heads low as the creatures circled us, conversing with each other all the while. Dr. Grant slid his backpack off his back and placed it in front of him and opened it up to retrieve the eggs. One of the velociraptors came over and began sniffing all of us. It stopped and stared at Mrs. Kirby.

"She thinks you stole the eggs," Dr. Grant told her.

Mr. Kirby tried to go in front of her, but the velociraptor hissed him back to his place. It began sniffing and rubbing Mrs. Kirby's head.

"Give me the eggs," Mrs. Kirby hissed.

A small uproar went up as the eggs were revealed. Dr. Grant handed them to Mrs. Kirby and she placed them in the sand in front of her. Looking over, I noticed Dr. Grant pulled something else out of the bag. It looked like a strange flute made of bone. He suddenly blew it. The velociraptors looked confused and began squawking.

"No, no, no, no. Call for help," Mr. Kirby suggested.

Dr. Grant seemed to think for a moment before blowing into the flute with bursts of air. The velociraptors seemed to think for a moment before picking up their eggs and running off. Once they had left, we suddenly heard the sound of helicopters. We got up quickly and ran for the sound. Reaching the coast, we spotted a man in a suit standing on the beach, a megaphone in hand.

"Dr. Grant? Dr. Alan Grant?"

The adults took the lead, running and shouting that it was a bad idea to use the megaphone, but as we got closer, the sight was astounding. There were tons of tanks and helicopters and a lot of soldiers piling out of them.

"Wow, you have to thank her now! She sent the Navy _and_ the Marines."

Apparently Eric and Dr. Grant had had a conversation earlier, but I assumed it was about the person he had called for help. Eric took my hand as we all walked over to our rescuers. We quickly got into a helicopter and were very happy to see that Billy was alive and had been found. He was bandaged up quite a bit, but he was okay other than that. And we were finally on our way home.

Author's Note: We're not done yet!


	22. Rectified Mishap: Eric The End

I'd never been happier to be home. Oklahoma didn't seem too boring now that my life had been at risk for weeks on end. Waiting for us at the base was Dr. Grant's friend Ellie, Bianca's mom, and a few of my closest guy friends. After getting off the helicopter, Bianca's mom pulled her into a hug and they stayed like that for awhile. Dr. Grant went to speak with Ellie and thank her for saving our lives, and my friends came over to me. I got a lot of claps on the back and they checked out all the cuts and bruises. I laughed as they pointed out my clothes were a little worse for wear. Of course, they then went to the questions that I had dreaded answering.

"So, you were alone with Bianca Mallon for eight weeks? What happened out there?"

I shrugged.

"We tried to survive. Hid out in a water truck trying not to get eaten."

"Did you two…_do _anything?"

I turned and saw that Bianca was watching me nervously about a yard away.

"Of course not. I'm not like you guys."

They laughed.

"So, since you guys are friends and all and you didn't do anything…can you hook me up?"

I felt a little bit of outrage surge up in me. We'd just gotten back minutes ago and they already wanted to go after her. They couldn't have her. I'd never let them. I didn't want to make them mad at me or anything though.

"No, I can't. Me and her aren't _that _close."

I looked back and felt like an ass. Bianca seemed to deflate a little before walking off toward her mother. In my attempt to keep them from thinking me and Bianca had gotten as close as we did, I'd just told them I wasn't interested. Fabulous. The guys looked a little disappointed, but I didn't care about their feelings that much.

"Look, I have to go guys. See you guys when school starts."

I ran and tried to catch up to Bianca, but my parents stopped me. She'd already gotten into a car and left with her mom. I'd messed up. And I'd been worried about her just forgetting about me and finding another guy when we got back. I just messed up what we had with a single sentence. That wasn't fair to her. I let my parents push and pull me along wherever. I wondered if I should just let Bianca go or actually try and fix things. That is, if I could.

It took me about a week to pluck up the courage to go over to her house. I knew that each day that went by would make it harder and harder for her to forgive me. She didn't call, I hadn't called. It was as if the island was a dream. Eventually, it hurt my heart to much not to go see her. So I stood in front of her house, feeling like I was going to melt into a puddle of nervousness. I rang the doorbell and her mother answered it. She smiled at me.

"Hi, Eric. I wasn't expecting you to come over, but I'm glad you did. Bianca hasn't said anything since the first day she came back. Maybe she's just shocked to be home and completely safe."

Her mom led her into the house and pointed him up the stairs and to the second door on the right. Eric thanked her and sighed as he climbed the stairs. Reaching the specified door, he knocked before opening the door. He found Bianca lying on her bed, Dr. Grant's book open on the bed. He was slightly stunned by how girly her room actually was. The color scheme for her wall was blue with pink roses. Her dresser, bed frame, and nightstand were white. When Bianca noticed him, she dropped her book. He gave her a small wave.

"Hey, Bee."

She sat up quickly and glared at him.

"What do you want? It's not like we're _friends_ or anything."

That hurt, but it hurt her as well. She wanted to cry, I could tell. I went over to her bed and sat down. She moved away from me.

"I'm sorry, Bee. I should have said…something different, but I didn't know what to say. I didn't want them going after you right then and there. It made me angry. And I didn't want them to know we'd…been _super_ close on the island because they'd…go crazy. Honestly, Bee, I want to take it back. I would if I could because I really, really do care about you. A lot."

She was looking down at her bed instead of looking at me.

"I know you don't want to be mad at me," I said, sliding closer," And I don't want you to be either. I want the two of us to go to school in two weeks and I can say to my friends that I lied to them because I honestly fell in love with you on that island and that I'm proud to have you as my girlfriend. If you want that too, then please forgive me."

Bianca looked up at me, her eyes sparkling with tears.

"You…?"

"I love you."

I kissed her gently, trying to convey the love I felt. My heart jumped as her arms circled around my neck and she kissed me back. I felt her warm tears touch my lips and I smiled.

"I love you, too," she sniffled," I want to be your girlfriend. I really do."

And I was happy to walk into school two weeks later and see the stunned looks on my friend's faces. But I was even happier to share my memories, my feelings, and my entire life with the perfect person who I loved with all my heart.


End file.
